


DM(V)

by pladicus



Category: The 100 (TV)
Genre: Adults, CEO Lexa (The 100), College Student Aden, Doctor Clarke, F/F, Nova - Freeform, Washington D.C., actor bellamy, more tags added later, northern virginia
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-04-26
Updated: 2017-11-01
Packaged: 2018-10-23 20:14:03
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 12
Words: 40,093
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10726407
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/pladicus/pseuds/pladicus
Summary: Clarke needs to sleep. Octavia hates her boss. Raven doesn't want to move.Lexa feels lonely. Lincoln worries about his friend. Anya avoids her problems.or, the lives of six twenty- and thirty-somethings intertwine.





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> I'm so bad at restraining myself. Here's a new story!

"My boss is an asshole," Octavia announced as she entered the apartment she shared with Clarke and Raven. 

"Your voice echoes into the hallway," Raven yelled from her room. "And what else is new?"

Octavia rolled her eyes as the door shut behind her. She kicked off her heels and tossed them into the coat closet, leaving them next to Raven's oxfords. She dropped her keys into the bowl by the front door and made her way to the threshold of Raven's room, poking her head in to see the Latina already dressed in her running gear. "Clarke home?"

"No, she doesn't get home till tomorrow night, remember?" Raven reminded her as she scrolled through her playlist on her phone. "Rough day at work?"

"Everyday is a rough day at work, Rae," Octavia told her, not like Raven can forget. Octavia complained about her boss so often, Raven and Clarke thought she was over exaggerating everything until they actually met the woman, and boy was she a demon. "How was yours?"

"Eh, it was okay," Raven said, locking her phone before making eye contact with Octavia. "We're making good progress so far on our latest project."

"Your descriptions are so vague that I should probably just stop asking you about work," Octavia said as she leaned against Raven's doorway. "You only have two answers to that questions. Good progress on the project, or difficult time with the project."

Raven smiled and shrugged. "What can I do? I signed a contract with the government that basically said that my ass is grass if I ever told anyone anything. Besides, would you actually understand anything if I talked to you about code for an hour?"

"No," Octavia mumbled, pushing herself off the doorway to walk next door to her own room, hearing Raven's laughter echo behind her. "Shut up, Reyes."

"You know I love you, O," Raven said, following the younger girl into her room while simultaneously trying to untangle her earbuds. "So, your birthday is next week. Want to go out or drink and bitch here?"

"Clarke has that night off, right?" Octavia asked as dropped her laptop bag on her office chair. "I'm pretty sure she told me that she wasn't on call last time I saw her, which I can't even remember when that was. She's like a fucking ghost. Here when you least expect it and gone when you want to talk to her."

"Yeah, I think she has it off," Raven said. "Can you really blame her, though? It's her last year of residency and she's taking her boards soon. She's freaking the fuck out."

"Yeah, I guess," Octavia shrugged, opening her closet to pick out some clothes to change into. "It sucks now, and we're her best friends. Imagine if she was married. God, that must be hell for her spouse."

"Hey, some people do it with kids."

"And I applaud their families for their patience," Octavia continued, unbuttoning her blouse. "Just give me a minute to change and we can go running."

"Alright," Raven said, finally untangling her earbuds and shoving one in her ear. "I'll grab us some water.”

Octavia quickly changed into a sports bra and running shorts, and was tying her shoes when Raven came back with two water bottles and two bananas for the two of them. 

“I need to get laid,” Raven told Octavia as she placed one of the water bottles and bananas on the brunette’s desk. 

“Not that I’m arguing, but what makes you say that?” 

Raven narrowed her eyes at Octavia. “Haha, funny. But, seriously. My life has kind of plateaued recently. I mean, I have no complaints, my job is great and I’m living with my best friends, but there’s not much to do here besides shop at Tysons and drink in DC. Sure, there’s restaurants everywhere, but we live in the fucking suburbs and I need something exciting in my life.”

“We could move, you know,” Octavia suggested, bringing the idea up for the hundredth time or so. “Your life has plateaued because you haven’t experienced how bitchy traffic is in the morning. Your job is literally two, three blocks away from here.”

“Which is why I don’t want to move. We live in a good area. There’s a bunch of opportunities arising here. Why the hell should we move out of McLean?” Raven asked before taking a bite out of her banana.

“Raven, our lease went up fifteen precent, and this apartment is tiny with a shitty management. There’s construction in half the town and potholes where the construction isn’t. During regular hours, it takes five minutes to get to work by car, but if it’s rush hour, I’m barely at my desk by nine. Prices are skyrocketing here. We _need_ to find a new place to live.”

“So, the solution is to move farther away from our jobs?” 

“I’m not saying that—”

Raven gave Octavia a look.

“Okay, so, maybe I’m saying that.”

Raven shook her head. “No, no way. I’m not on board with this.”

“Look, I’m not entirely thinking of myself when I’m saying this,” Octavia tried to reason with her. “You know my job is a contract job. Hilton is the longest client I’ve ever worked with, and in a few months, I might be in Seattle or Riyadh, for all you know. You’ll have an empty bedroom and you and Clarke would be paying fifty percent more rent than you do now.”

The sound of the front door opening grabbed their attention, and they both walked out in the hall just in time to see Clarke walking in looking like a zombie, not that it was anything new. 

“Hey, Griff,” Raven greeted, watching the blonde slip out of her shoes and toss her keys in the glass bowl. “I thought you were coming home tomorrow night.”

“I traded shifts with someone, so I’m working Monday instead of tomorrow,” Clarke told them. She pushed her shoes aside and walked past the two of them, sending Raven a grateful smile for the water bottle held out for her to take. “So, why are you two crowding the hallway?”

“Octavia brought up moving,” Raven told her with a roll of her eyes. “Again.”

“Oh, my God, this argument? Really?” Clarke sighed, walking in her room and dumping her bag on the floor next to her bed. 

“Yes, really,” Octavia mocked as they followed Clarke. “Let’s settle this here and now. Clarke, do you think we should move?”

“I just took a bullet out of a man’s head. Ask me after I’m done sleeping,” Clarke told her, crawling under her covers. 

“So, after work tomorrow?” Raven asked. 

“Maybe, if I’m in the mood for it. Have fun on your run,” Clarke said yawning towards the end of her sentence. “Goodnight.”

“Night, Griff,” the two of them echoed before walking out and closing the door behind them.

Clarke could hear their bickering all the way until they left the apartment building, and there wasn't much she could do except wait until they were gone to blissfully fall asleep. 

 

 

 

Lexa was in a meeting that was going to drive her insane. If she heard one more person mention their need to utilize the opportunity to invest in the rapidly-urbanizing town of McLean, she was going to kick somebody off the top floor of her office tower. 

"Which is why it's vital to invest now while business is rising—"

"Stop," Lexa commanded, sighing lightly as her head of marketing ceased his presentation and all members at the meeting table looked to her. "Marco, as much as I'd _love_ to sit through this meeting and hear about the investment opportunities in this town, like I've heard a hundred times in the past month, I'd rather not," Lexa told him. Sure, she was a little cold at work, but her employees respected her. She was never this bitchy. "I'm well aware that this is a fantastic place for growth and business opportunity, but you telling me isn't going to help us accomplish that."

Many avoided her gaze, knowing that she was right. Lexa was momentarily silent as she ignored Lincoln's concerned look and Anya's curious one.

"So, here's what I'll do," Lexa said, waiting until everyone was staring at her before continuing. "There's twenty-seven people seated at this table, twenty-four excluding Lincoln, Anya, and myself. Assemble groups of three with anyone out of the twenty-four remaining. Find a project worthy of my time and money, and you get a get a hefty bonus. Simple as that." Lexa stood up and motioned for Anya and Lincoln to do the same. "It's five o'clock, so I'm going home. You have four months."

Chaos ensued in the boardroom as Lexa, Lincoln, and Anya left, but the former didn't care. She was tired, and she was going home.

"Why don't I get to join?" Anya asked. "I want a bonus."

"Because then you'd find me something in two weeks by yourself," Lexa answered, pressing the button for the elevator. "Half of the people in there don't like each other, so it's easier for me to weed out those with potential and a good head on their shoulders. And do you really want to pay more taxes?"

Anya let out a laugh as the three of them entered the elevator. She waited until the doors closed before turning to Lexa while Lincoln pressed the button for the floor above. "Oh, come on, Lexa. I haven't paid the tax rate for my income bracket in nearly a decade."

Lexa rolled her eyes at her cousin. "The tax code is stupid."

"Hey, you're filing your income as capital gains, so I don't see why you're complaining," Anya retorted. 

"I'm not. I just said that it was stupid," Lexa told her, walking out of the elevator as soon as the doors opened. 

"You can thank Bush for that," Lincoln told them.

"That's about the only thing I'll thank Bush for," Anya said as they split off to their respective offices, meeting back at the elevators when they gathered their things. "By the way, I had my assistant call Tachibana while we were in that meeting. We're picking up sushi on our way home. You looked like you were about to punch someone in there."

"Are you okay, Lex?" Lincoln asked, as they stepped into the elevator. 

"I'm just tired," Lexa told them, not wanting to get into a conversation about her feelings with her cousins. Before Lincoln could prod any further, more people stepped into the elevator, widening their eyes when they realized they were in the elevator with the three most powerful people of Coalition Corp. Lexa refrained from rolling her eyes for the second time in ten minutes, feeling relieved when they finally left the elevator to get to the parking garage. Per usual, a valet was already waiting with Anya's car, and in less than five minutes, they were already feeding into the rush hour traffic.

"Why don't we have a driver?" Anya asked, annoyed by the asshole who just cut her off.

"Because we have you, and you're free," Lexa retorted, earning a side-eye from Anya while Lincoln laughed in the back.

"Just answer the damn question."

"Because it's a waste of the company's money," Lexa said, telling Anya what she already knew. "I'm not signing another paycheck as a perk. The jet and the salary should already be enough."

"What if I want to golf?"

"Use your own goddamn money," Lexa told her. 

Anya and Lincoln exchanged looks through the rearview mirror before the blonde focused on her cousin. "Do you want to talk?"

"No," Lexa answered, reminding herself to stay calm. "Can we just get the sushi and go home?"


	2. Chapter 2

Clarke was drinking when Raven came home. Whiskey was Clarke's go-to drink for when she either had a lot on her mind or just wanted to forget her life for a while. 

Without saying a word, Raven left her work bag on her desk and changed into a shirt and legging before walking into the kitchen to reheat leftovers. Clarke almost always crashed for hours after coming home from work, and would be all energetic when she woke up. Every once in a while, she came home and crashed, then woke up and started drinking, which eventually led her to cry a little on either Raven or Octavia's shoulder. And then Clarke would go to sleep and go back to work the following day, coming back a few days later to repeat the same cycle. 

When the microwave beeped, Raven pulled the rice and kung pao chicken out, then grabbed utensils and water bottles before making her way onto the couch next to her best friend. Raven took the bottle and glass away from Clarke to replace it with the bowl of leftovers and water bottle. "Eat. I know you haven't eaten since yesterday."

When Octavia came home fifteen minutes later, it took one look at Clarke before she shoved the argument of whether they should move or not in the back of her mind. She stripped out of her work clothes into something more comfortable before joining her best friends on the couch. They got through four episodes of The Office before Clarke started talking. 

"A kid died in my arms yesterday," Clarke told them in between episodes, and that was Raven's cue to turn off their TV and make a Clarke sandwich with Octavia. "I sometimes hate being a surgeon."

"At least you're getting better at it," Octavia told her. "Skill-wise and emotionally."

"I know, I just—" Clarke sighed and ran a hand through her hair. "I just want to go grocery shopping."

"What?" 

"I need to get up," Clarke told them, doing just that to prove her point. "I'm going to go insane if I keep doing this to myself. I'm half-drunk right now, and I need to do something simple after starring at blood for four days in a row."

"You want to go to Giant?" Raven asked.

"Giant, Walmart, Safeway, whatever," Clarke said, opening and closing her hands subconsciously as she tried to look around for something to occupy her hands. "Do we have a grocery list, or something?"

"We can make one," Octavia said, reaching over to the grab a notebook and a pen from underneath the coffee table. She handed off the items to Clarke, who immediately opened to a new page and wandered into the kitchen to open the fridge and assess the situation. Man, she really needed to take a few vacation days. 

"Guys," Clarke called out.

"What?" Raven asked from the living room.  

"Our fridge is empty! There's only a banana and leftover Chinese takeout in here," Clarke said, closing the door and walking out of the kitchen. "We're grocery shopping. Now."

"Shit, did we run out of aloe water already?" Octavia asked, turning off the TV and following Raven and Clarke to put on their shoes. Raven grabbed her keys and opened the door for the others to walk through. 

"I think I drank the last one when I left this morning," Raven said, smiling apologetically at her friends. "Sorry."

Octavia merely rolled her eyes as they all got in the car. Ten minutes later, the three roommates were pushing a cart into the Giant in town. 

"So, what do we need exactly?" Raven asked as they moved towards the fruits and vegetables. 

"Literally everything," Clarke told them. "I mean, I only have to go into work on Monday, but I'm otherwise at home until Wednesday, and I head back to work on Thursday, so the food shouldn't rot in there."

"Speaking of, are we going to go out for your birthday or stay in?" Raven asked Octavia. She grabbed a plastic bag and began filing it with apples. 

"If Clarke isn't going to work on Wednesday, then we might as well stay out. I'm playing hooky on Wednesday," Octavia informed them with a click of her tongue. 

"Why?" Clarke asked, looking through the bananas to find the good ones.

"Because the time difference in between jobs has killed my alcohol intake, and I'm a lightweight now," Octavia reminded them. She grabbed a few Asian pears and a bag of tangerines to throw in the cart. 

"Won't your boss get an aneurysm if you skip out on work in the middle of the week?" 

"He's in Europe for all of next week, thank fuck. I don't have to see his face for a week and a half."

"Gotta love the weekends," Raven chimed as they all dropped their respective fruit into the cart. "Are we cooking tonight?"

"No, there's no time," Clarke said, looking at her watch. "You guys want to pick a restaurant at Tyson's instead?"

"We can, but we're going to need to divide the non-existing shopping list to get there before they close up. It's already six twenty."

"Okay, seeing as I'm the only one with any self restraint, I'll take over snack duty," Clarke told them, ignoring the eye-rolls. "Raven can finish up with vegetables. Just get lettuce, cucumber, tomatoes, and carrots. O, you can take the cart and get milk, cheese, eggs, and bread. We'll meet by the cashier."

"Coolio," Raven said, and they all split off to wander the store on their own. 

Clarke made her way to the snack aisle, grabbing a few bags of chips and a jar of salsa before debating whether or not to buy a box of cereal. In the end, she grabbed it anyway, knowing that it was poison for the human body, but at least it was non-perishable. Unsurprisingly, she was the first one at their meeting point, and decided to wait in one of the four lines open. Thankfully, there was no one behind her when Octavia came around with the shopping cart, which allowed them to avoid several stink eyes.

Raven joined them moments later, rolling her eyes when she saw Octavia looking through one of the gossip magazines that claimed yet another celebrity cheated on their partner. "You know those things are full of shit, right? I saw Bell on the cover of one of those last month claiming that he partied all weekend when he was flying out to Adelaide."

"Oh, I know. I just like to look at them and laugh to make myself feel better, knowing that I don't have to write a bunch of bullshit for a living," Octavia told her, dropping the magazine back on the stand. "At least he'll be able to avoid the paparazzi for a while in Australia. They're not as shitty as the ones in LA."

"What is his role this time around?" Clarke asked as Octavia pushed the cart forward, and all three women began unloading the groceries on to the conveyor belt. 

"I think some detective in 1940s Australia," Octavia told them. "He flew out early to get the accent right. I think filming starts in two months."

Clarke's phone buzzed, and she momentarily stopped what she was doing to pull it out, only to see that it was a message from Bellamy. "Speak of the devil."

"What did he send you?" Raven asked, smiling at the cashier in greeting. 

"Your brother is a disaster, O," Clarke laughed, showing the pictures Bellamy sent to her friends. It was a series of four pictures, showcasing Bellamy attempting to piggyback on a kangaroo with what looked like the help of a trainer, laughing in success, only to get thrown off and have the last image reveal him on the ground. 

"I can't wait for the day this gets on the internet," Octavia said, shaking her head at the photos. "Why are you the only one getting these pictures?"

"It's sent via WhatsApp," Clarke told her. "Do you guys have your data on?"

"Nope," Raven told her, after quickly checking her phone. Upon connecting to the internet, Bellamy's messages started flowing in. "Just got them."

Octavia felt around her pockets for her phone, but couldn't find it. "Fuck, I left my phone in the car. What time is it?"

"Almost seven," Raven told her as Clarke swiped her credit card to pay for their groceries. 

"I want to hurry up before CPK closes," Octavia told them, helping Raven put the bags into the cart. "I'm in the mood for barbecue chicken pizza."

"We're not getting pizza," Clarke flat out told them. 

"Let's negotiate."

"This isn't Shark Tank, Octavia," Clarke said. "And for that reason, I'm out."

 

 

 

Lexa was feeling pathetic, eating sushi alone in her room, in a giant mansion that she had no business owning. Sure, she'd gotten a good deal on it, and there was more than enough room for her, Lincoln, and Anya, and eventually her brother Aden when he would move down from Pittsburgh to go to Georgetown, but that still left a whole lot of unused surface area. Hell, in the three years she'd owned this house, Lexa has used the pool a maximum of five times. 

Her life was pathetic. What was the point of building a huge empire and making all of this money if she had no one to share it with?

Her sushi was mostly gone, and all it really took for her to realize that she was lonely was sitting in front of the sign up page of an online dating website. It was either that or Tinder, and she'd very much rather not get chlamydia, though it wouldn't matter either way.

Lexa shut her laptop and stuffed the last of her sushi into her mouth before getting up to walk to her closet. Moping didn't help her over her last break-up and it wasn't going to help her feel any less pathetic now. She changed out of her old Georgetown spirit wear and into black jeans combined with a plain white shirt and a customized blue bomber jacket from one of the many apparel startups she held stake in. Investing really paid off. 

Not five minutes later, Lexa was walking down the incredibly long stairs that lead to the living room, where Lincoln sat watching Casablanca. At the sound of her footsteps, he turned his head and saw her coming down the stairs. "Headed out?"

"I just need to find a pick-me-up," Lexa told him, grabbing her eyes from the bowl on the coffee table. "Maybe I'll go to that herbal tea store in Tysons."

"Want me to come with?" Lincoln asked, concerned for Lexa. He could see that she's been on edge lately, but he didn't no why.

"Nope," Lexa answered, feeling her pockets to make sure she had her wallet and phone. "I don't care if the house is on fire. If there's a problem, handle it. As far as anyone's concerned, I don't exist for the next few hours."

"When will you be back?" Lincoln asked as he watched Lexa walk to the front door.

"Great question!" She called back, not adding anything more as the door closed behind her.

Lexa walked past the Anya's Jeep, Lincoln's Tesla, and Anya's Ferrari to her choice in automobiles: ten-year-old Honda CRV. She got in her car and immediately hooked her phone up to the Bluetooth, playing one of her favorite indie artists, M.A.G.S. After starting up the car and getting on the road, it took Lexa a little over fifteen minutes to get to the mall, and another ten minutes on top of that to find a parking spot. The area might have been rapidly expanding, but gentrification and parking spots were a bitch. 

It was pushing 7:30 when Lexa walked into the mall, but with no agenda and a few hours to get her mind off her pathetic lack of a love life, Lexa didn't give a damn. She'd coincidentally parked by the entrance near the bookstore, and before she could convince herself otherwise, she walked inside and splurged nearly fifty dollars worth of books that she was probably only going to read once and never open up again. After finding that she'd only spent less than fifteen minutes inside the bookstore, Lexa left to trek to the herbal tea specialty store on the other side of the mall. Though she didn't go to the mall often, she'd always passed by the store and taken samples of the tea they had on the stand by the front of the store, and rarely had a flavor ever disappointed her. 

By the time it was 7:45, Lexa had already paid for her drink and stood outside the store trying to not look pathetic as she tried to think of something else to do. What did women her age to make themselves feel better? Cry, drink, watch shitty movies, and give themselves makeovers. Seeing as she was already at the mall, Lexa made her way towards Sephora. Unsurprisingly, the store was jammed pack with women buying and trying on makeup. Other than the bare minimum she put on everyday for work, Lexa had no experience when it came to self-applied makeup. She saved herself a headache and left big events to a professional makeup artist. 

"Hi!"

Lexa jumped and looked to her right, only to find what looked to be a store employee staring at her. "Hello."

"Welcome to Sephora," she greeted. "Would you like some assistance?"

"My experience with makeup is next to nothing, so yes, please," Lexa told her. 

"Okay," the woman told her, keeping a bright smile on her face. "Well, if you would like, we can sample some products and I can do your makeup right here so that you can see the result for yourself."

"Sounds great," Lexa told her. She could already tell that she was going to buy even more shit that she was never going to use. 

"Great! Just follow me here to a spot with a mirror," the employee said, and Lexa obeyed her command. She ended up in the lipstick aisle, and was told to wait while the employee grabbed some other makeup products. 

The aisle was empty save for one other woman, a blonde that was furiously wiping at the shade of lipstick that she had just put on. 

"I wouldn't get my makeup done here if I was you," the blonde suddenly spoke, and Lexa had to look around for a few seconds to make sure that she was speaking to her. 

"I'm sorry, what?" Lexa asked, a little in shock when the woman turned to her. There were just some people that you came across in life that blew away by their beauty. 

"There's a ridiculous amount of bacteria in all of these makeup samples," the blonde told her. "That, and the fact that I can almost guarantee that employee is going to mess up your pretty face."

Lexa blushed like a teenager. It's been so long since she went on a date, and maybe even longer since she'd received a compliment like that. "Thank you."

The blonde smiled and held out her hand. "I'm Clarke."

"Lexa," the brunette said, shaking Clarke's hand. 

"You've got a firm handshake," Clarke noted as they let go. "Business?" 

"How'd you know?" 

"You need to assert your power with a powerful handshake, and there's no place like that like the business world," Clarke told her. She saw the employee heading back in their direction, so Clarke quickly acted on Lexa's behalf. "Kacie is going to be so mad! We're already late."

"What?" Lexa asked, but she was already being pulled to the exit and a few feet away from the store. "Um, what was that?" 

"The employee was coming back. Figured I'd save you the pain of looking like a circus monkey courtesy of her."

"Oh, thanks," Lexa said. "How do you know that she'd give me a bad makeover?" 

"First hand experience courtesy of both of my roommates," Clarke told her. "If you actually do need something, though, my roommates are still inside and I can send them to get what you need."

"No, thank you. I'm okay," she said, smiling a little at the whole ordeal. "I know next to nothing about makeup, actually."

"Then why go into a makeup store?" Clarke asked, crossing her arms as she leaned against the wall. People were walking and rushing all around them, but it was like those two people were in the center of their own little universe. 

Lexa sighed. She could go ahead and lie to this stranger but what did she have to lose? It wasn't like they were going to meet again any time soon. "I needed a little pick me up. My life has gotten to the point where everything is going great, but success can only really go so far if you're not happy."

Clarke nodded her head in understanding. "Yeah, I get that. I kind of came here today for the same reason. I'm not really a shop til you drop kind of girl. I actually think that this is the first time in six months that I've been here."

"You work in business, too?" Lexa asked

Clarke shook her head. "No, but I work in a high stress environment as well."

"Oh?" This sparked Lexa's curiosity. "What do you work as?" 

"I'm actually a trauma surgeon," Clarke told her. 

"Really?" Lexa said, raising her brows. "That's...wow."

"Yeah, that's usually the reaction I get from most people," Clarke said with a laugh. She felt something slam into her from behind, and seeing that it was an accident, Clarke then realized that they were somewhat blocking traffic in the mall. "Hey, I know this sounds weird, but do you want to go get some ice cream? I mean, unless you're not busy, of course. I kind of kicked us out of Sephora by running away and claiming to be running late to meet Kacie."

"Sure," Lexa agreed, and they both started walking to the Häagen-Dazs by the escalators. "Is Kacie one of your roommates?" 

"Oh, God no. She might be the only surgeon that I can't stand in the surgical department."

"Hate her with a burning passion?" Lexa mused.

"No, but she's just one of those people that really get on your nerves," Clarke told her. "She could be a nice person when you know her personally, but in a professional environment, she's annoying as hell."

"Annoying how?"

"The overly arrogant type," Clarke told her. "Surgeons are arrogant as it is, but she's on a whole other level. Thankfully, I have one day a week when our shifts overlap,and you won't believe the amount of people who've come begging to switch shifts with me. You may think I'm exaggerating, but I swear I'm telling the truth."

"No, I believe you," Lexa told her. "I work with people like that all the time. My best friend is one of those people, and it gets on my nerves sometimes."

"Right?" Clarke said, as if to prove her point even further. They walked into the Häagen-Dazs store, and were lucky to find themselves only behind two other people. 

"It's even worse for me, because I work and live with her."

"Oh, God. How has that not ruined your friendship already?" Clarke asked. "My cousin did that with her best friend in college and ended up destroying a friendship that was six years long. She ended up moving out three weeks before the end of the first semester because she couldn't handle it anymore."

"I guess you could say that she and I are the type of people who just switch off when we leave the office. I mean, sure, we interact a lot because of our positions, but she has her own people to boss around, and I have mine. She knows her limits, and she can sense when I'm in a really bad mood, so it works. If her step-brother tried it though, we'd probably destroy our friendship, but his personality isn't like that, so our dynamic works."

"Isn't it hard to just leave your problems at the doorstep?" Clarke asked as the line moved forward. "I've been a surgeon for nearly five years, and I still find it hard to just have an off switch. Sure, I get home and collapse from exhaustion, but work affects me sometimes really hard."

"Right, and I think that's normal, especially for your job because you're literally dealing with the life of another human being in your hands, but for me, it's mostly about investments and closing deals. If you'd asked me ten years ago, I would've definitely told you that I was working myself to the bone, but I had to learn to leave all the office drama and whatnot at the office. Unless it was a problem that was going to burn down the company, I told my assistants to not call me at home. And even if there was a problem, they'd have to call at least two other people before calling me. If they couldn't fix the problem, then I knew that I had to come in."

"What drove you to change?" Clarke asked her. "You don't look like someone who's experienced burnout so young."

"It wasn't burnout," Lexa told her, momentarily pausing as they moved up to be served. "What flavor ice cream?"

"Vanilla works fine," Clarke told her, pulling out her phone when it chimed with a notification. 

"Toppings?"

"Fruit, please," Clarke said, looking down at her phone to see a few texts coming into the group chat designated to herself, Octavia, and Raven.

 

**Three Musketeers**

**Raven:**   
Um, hello? Where are you, Griff?

 **Octavia** :   
We looked around the store and didn't find you.

 **Raven** :   
GASP

 **Raven** :   
DID YOU DITCH US???

 **Clarke** :  
Calm down. I'm still at the mall.

 **Clarke** :  
I met this cool chick and Sephora and we started   
chatting. We're getting ice cream, so you guys can   
continue your shopping spree.

 **Clarke** :  
Just text me when you're done at the end of the   
night or I'll come find you when I'm done. 

 **Raven** :  
Ooooooo who is she??

 **Clarke** :  
Raven, no. Stop.

 **Clarke** :   
I'll see you later.

 **Raven** :  
um, rUDE MUCH

 

Clarke rolled her eyes at Raven's antics and stuffed her phone in her pocket. She barely had time to look up before Lexa almost shoved the cup of ice cream in her face. 

"Oh, shit, did you pay already?" Clarke asked, feeling a little guilty as she took the cup.

"It's fine. Don't worry about it," Lexa told her. They looked around the small store and found that all the seats were taken. "I vaguely remember that there's a seating area by the the library on this floor. Want to head there?"

"Sure," Clarke said, and they walked out of the store. "I can pay you back—"

"Clarke, seriously, it's fine. It was only a few dollars," Lexa promised. 

"Still, I met you, like, fifteen minutes ago and you're already paying for me," Clarke mumbled, making Lexa laugh.

"Well, your company is repayment. I was in a shitty mood earlier, and you made me laugh, so kudos to you," Lexa told her with a smile, which Clarke returned. "Now, back what we were talking earlier."

"Oh, right," Clarke said, almost as if a lightbulb just went off in her head. "You said it wasn't burnout that drove you to change, so what did?"

"Burnout didn't have anything to do with it. My ex-girlfriend was actually the cause of my change," Lexa admitted, and she could read the look of surprise on Clarke's face.

"Really?"

"Yeah. I started the company with my friends during my senior year in college. I had begun invention in stocks during my first semester in college, and by the end of my third, I'd made just short of a hundred-thousand," Lexa told her.

"Wow, that's amazing," Clarke told her as they approached an empty couch at the seating area. "Good for you."

"Thank you," Lexa said, sitting down next to Clarke on the couch. "I'd begun my relationship with my ex right after the second anniversary of the company, and it was great in the beginning. I think it was shortly after we moved in together that she made me realize how crazy I worked. I mean, we're not talking regular nine-to-five hours. I was sometimes working twelve, fourteen-hour days during the week, and bringing work home with me on top of that.Looking back on it now, it was definitely an insane amount of work."

"Did she not realize this before you moved in together?" Clarke asked, finding it a little odd.

"In the beginning stages of our relationship, I was trying to impress her, so I cut back a little then so that we could spend time together after work. Of course, I still get weekends off. That was something I decided before I started the company. I was trying to work hard, not kill myself with all the stress," Lexa said before continuing. "I think it came to light when we started living together, and she laid down the law two months into our new place. It was either leave work at work, or we'd just have to break up. So, I chose her, and I think it was one of the best choices I ever made. We started spending more time together, having fun, going on trips. We had a great four years together."

"Did your job end up driving you two apart in the end?" Clarke asked.

"Ironically, hers did," Lexa chuckled. "She worked for a biomedical research company, and she got an offer and research money at the University of Oslo?"

"As in, Norway?" Clarke asked, eyes the size of saucers. 

"Yep. She's brilliant. She got her PhD at twenty-six," Lexa told her. "We decided it was best it end our relationship, because we couldn't make it work, especially after they made it clear that it was a permanent position at the university when a teaching offer came along with it. My whole life is here, and hers was going to be all the way in Norway, so there was no way we could make it work."

"Were you mad when she told you to take it?"

"She was going to turn it down, but I pushed her to do it," Lexa said. "I wasn't going to make her regret a four-million dollar research grant. Besides, I knew it wasn't meant to be. I attended her wedding last year."

"And you're still friends?"

"Great finds," Lexa confirmed. "I stay at her and her husband's house whenever I fly to Oslo for business instead of renting a hotel room. It's great."

"There's no bad blood?"

"No, and I'm not really the type of person to have any bad blood," Lexa said, then paused. "Well, unless it's business, but that's usually on the other end."

Clarke rolled her eyes and shook her head. "Yeah, you say that because you think you're right."

"Well, I have to defend my argument don't I?" Lexa asked rhetorically. "I'm known for being cold at work, but I'm not unfair."

"Well, as long as you're fair, I don't think anything else really matters then," Clarke said. They locked eyes, and it was silent between them for a few moments.

"So, what about you?" Lexa finally asked.

"What about me?" Clarke retorted, scrunching her nose in distaste at what she just said. "Geez, that was too corny, even for me."

Lexa chuckled. "Well, you basically managed to cast a spell on me to know my whole life story, so what's yours?"

"I did no such thing," Clarke grinned. "I'm just a great conversationalist. And trust me, other than working, sleeping, and eating, my life is not that interesting. I mean, you can throw in there the occasional drunk Clarke moment, but that's about as interesting as it gets."

"I don't believe that for a second."

"Why?"

"I think everyone's interesting. I mean, for years, I was a nerd in school, but my company makes billions every year."

Clarke laughed, then cut her laugh sharply. "Wait, wait, wait, wait. That company you started in college is the one you work at today?"

"Yeah, I'm CEO and board chairman," Lexa told her.

"What's the name of your company?" Clarke asked. 

"Woods Financial and Holdings," Lexa mumbled, and Clarke almost went insane. 

"You mean that giant tower two blocks from here is yours?"

"That's my office," Lexa confirmed.

Clarke let out a long laugh, and Lexa was growing slightly concerned for the blonde's sanity. "How did I not realize this sooner? You're Alexandria Woods. My roommate is obsessed with your work. She's salivating at the chance to get to work for you."

"What does your friend do?" Lexa asked. 

"She has two master's, one in project management and the other in risk management. She has done a few projects for natural disasters and such, but most of her work is tied to business. She actually works for Hilton at the moment. Her name is Octavia Blake."

"Oh, really?" Lexa asked, quite impressed. "I actually have plans for likely more than one project coming soon. You know what? Here."Lexa pulled out her wallet and opened it up to extract a business card, handing it to Clarke. "Give that to your friend and tell her to send me her resume. I'll personally look over it, and I might call her to schedule an interview if I like her experience."

When they saw Urban Outfitters, the store that they were across from, shut down their doors, both women turned to look at the time. 

"I didn't realize how late it's gotten," Clarke commented, and Lexa nodded her head in agreement. She hesitated on asking Clarke a question, but figured that she had nothing to lose anyway. 

"I know that this sounds a little bit crazy, but are you free tomorrow?" Lexa asked. "I just, I really enjoyed talking to you today and I feel like I kind of dominated the whole conversation tonight, and that you're having a bad week, and need someone to talk to it about."

"I enjoyed taking to you, too, and you didn't dominate the whole conversation tonight," Clarke reassured her. "Are you free for lunch tomorrow?"

"Yes, definitely," Lexa almost immediately answered, desperately hoping that she didn't seem as pathetic as she sounded. 

"Great," Clarke smiled, puling out her phone to give to Lexa. "Just text yourself from my phone so we have each other's numbers."

"Do you like Chinese?" Lexa asked, inputting her phone number and sending herself Clarke's name. 

"Yep," Clarke told her, taking her phone back to save Lexa under her contacts. 

"There's a great Chinese place not too far from here called House of Fortune. Do you know where it is?" 

"Yes, around noon?"

"I'll call for reservations," Lexa told her, barely getting in the sentence before Clarke's phone started vibrating like crazy.

"Sorry," Clarke apologized, looking at the screen. "My roommates are impatient and I have the car keys."

"So, I guess I'll see you tomorrow?" 

"Count on it," Clarke told her, and their moment was once again interrupted by the incessant texts of her friends. "I'm sorry, but I really do have to go before one of them gets an aneurysm."

"Go for it. I'll see you tomorrow," Lexa said, waving goodbye as the blonde left towards the direction of her friends. Once she couldn't see Clarke, Lexa stood up and threw her half-empty cup of Ice cream in the trash and headed towards the parking garage, and it was convenient for her that they happened to be sitting and talking not far from where she parked. Lexa threw all her bags into the passenger seat and started up the car, ready to head home for the night. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm dead tired and my eyes are half-asleep towards the end of this chapter, so if you see any mistakes, know that they're all mine. I'm lagging a bit behind on my inbox/comments, so I apologize to anyone who has messaged me and not gotten a reply. I will try to work through them tomorrow.


	3. Chapter 3

"You look different," Anya commented as soon as Lexa walked into the living room, back from her trip to the mall.

"Well, I stopped growing fifteen years ago, so it can't be my height," Lexa said, earning an eye roll from Anya as the former took a seat on the couch. "Different how?"

"I don't know. You've been in a pissy mood all day, and now you've got a tiny permanent smile on your face," Anya told her. "Lincoln! Hurry up with those stupid milkshakes."

"Patience!" He yelled back from the kitchen. "Is Lexa back yet?"

"Yeah," Lexa answered.

"Do you want a milkshake?"

"I'm fine. Thank you, though," she told him, then turned back to Anya. "So, I'm all smiley?"

"Yeah. Did you find something to cheer you up?" Anya asked, flipping through other channels during the commercial break on her favorite TV show.

"Kind of. I didn't know what to do when I went to the mall, so I bought myself books and tea from that nice herbal specialty store on the first floor," Lexa told her as Lincoln walked back into the living room, handing his step-sister a milkshake before taking a seat on the other end of the couch. 

"So, being a hipster cured your bad mood?" Anya asked, pausing the TV when she switched back to her show so that she could give Lexa her full attention.

Lexa shook her head at Anya. "Okay, first of all, I'm not a fucking hipster. That's reserved for wannabe teens and people in their mid-twenties working in coffee shops trying to make themselves feel better. Second of all, that's not all that I did. I went to Sephora, because I figured why not—"

"You don't even wear that much makeup, though," Anya cut in. 

"Yeah, but I figured that's what most women do besides cry and eat ice cream when they feel pathetic. You know, give themselves makeovers and waste their money on stupid stuff."

"Okay," Anya said, motioning for Lexa to continue her story.

"Anyway, I walk into Sephora and I'm about to get my makeup done by one of the employees when I meet this other girl there. Long story short, she ends up dragging me out of Sephora and we go get ice cream while we talk. We're getting lunch tomorrow at House of Fortune."

"Wait, so you meet a random woman at a makeup store and now you're meeting up for dates?" Anya asked, raising a brow.

"It's not a date," Lexa told her, earning an eye roll from Anya. "I swear, it's not. We just got to know each other, and before I know it, we're talking about Costia."

"Wait, your ex?" Lincoln asked in surprise.

"Yeah. I mean, we both kind of initially bonded of how shitty we've been feeling lately with our jobs and stuff, and she figured that I was a businesswoman by shaking my hand, and then I learned that she was a surgeon, and we just started talking about how work affects our personal lives, and next thing I know, I'm telling her about how I room with Cos and Henrik when I fly to Oslo every once in a while."

"Oh, that reminds me," Lincoln spoke, interrupting their conversation. "Don't forget that we're flying to Shenzhen next month for the conference and to make deals with new startups. I've got a few in mind after my visit two weeks ago."

"Oh, God. That's next month?" Anya whined, slumping back into the cushions. "Ugh."

"Yeah, we do this every year. I don't know why this comes as a big surprise to you," Lincoln flatly said. 

"Because I have to do even more paperwork," Anya reminded him. "I have to remember to get drunk before we leave to prepare myself for the mess."

"Nice try. That was cute," Lexa told her with a smile that could freeze hell. "If you're drunk at any business related function during our trip, I'll fire you."

"You can't fire me. You need me," Anya smirked. 

"Okay, I'm going to bed before your stupid God-complex puts me in another bad mood," Lexa said as she stood up and walked around the couch towards the stairs. "Goodnight."

"Wait!" Anya called out, turning around in her spot to face Lexa, who paused at the bottom of the stairs. "You said you're going to lunch with the chick that you met, like, two hours ago?"

"Yes, and she has a name, you know," Lexa informed Anya.

"What's her name?" Lincoln asked. 

"Clarke," Lexa told them, a small smile on her face.

"Is she hot?" Anya asked. 

"Jaw-dropping," Lexa told her with a wink, to which Anya whistled. 

"Last name?" Lincoln asked.

"Haven't gotten that far yet."

Anya rolled her eyes. "You have no game. My eyes are going to drop out of my head because of the amount of times I rolled my eyes at you."

"If only your mouth fell off, too," Lexa said, widening her eyes and letting out a faux gasp. "Can you imagine how much quieter our lives would be?"

Anya narrowed her eyes at Lexa and gave her the finger, drawing out laughter from the latter and Lincoln. "Assholes."

"Live with it," Lexa told her. "Oh, speaking of Clarke, I might have found us someone new for that project we're going to be doing in a few months. 

Lincoln and Anya shared looks of confusion before looking at Lexa. 

"What project?" Anya asked.

"Don't you remember when I told everyone in the boardroom today to present me with a project to work with in a few months' time because of how many times they were talking about expanding in this area?"

"Are you actually considering that?" Lincoln asked her. "And do you think any good ideas are going to come out of any of the teams?"

"I'll have backups in case nothing comes out of this, but if something does, then we're going to have a few busy months ahead of us," Lexa told them. "Anyway, the reason I brought this up was because I might have found a new project manager for us, and she studied risk management, so that is going to be really beneficial. I'm thinking that if she does a well enough job, we can hire her full time."

"Do you have her resume?" Anya asked. 

"No, but I know she'll send it to me before the end of the week."

"That's not cocky at all," Anya deadpanned. 

"Just a feeling," Lexa said, winking at her before ascending the stairs. 

 

 

 

Clarke walked into the living room next morning with a plate of banana pancakes and a cup of coffee. Raven was on the couch in her pajamas watching a rerun of  _Naked Gun 33⅓: The Final Insult_ , but her attention on the movie flew out the window once Clarke walked in and took a seat on the couch. When Clarke finally noticed Raven's eyes on her, she asked, "What?"

Raven made an exaggerated point to look at her watch. "Let's see. My watch seems to be working, so it must be eight o'clock on Saturday morning," Raven said, then turned to Clarke. "Why the hell are you awake?"

"Is it a crime to want to get up and eat breakfast?" Clarke asked, cutting her pancakes and taking a bite of her breakfast. 

"No, but it is if it's you," Raven retorted. "And especially so when you're all dressed up."

It was at that moment that Octavia opened the balcony door and stepped back inside the apartment after smoking a cigarette, and she froze when she saw Clarke on the couch. She looked to Raven. "I was gone literally two minutes. Did someone die?"

"You guys are exaggerating this," Clarke told them with an eye roll. "It's a normal thing to get up on the weekends. Not everybody sleeps in."

"Yeah, but you love sleep more than we do, and you're a fucking monster if we try to wake you up at a reasonable hour on your days off," Octavia told her as she closed the balcony door behind her, to which Raven pointed at Octavia as if it would prove her point further. 

"See? I'm not the only one, and I bet you ten bucks if I text Bell right now, he'd say the same," Raven told her.

"Not true," Clarke scoffed. 

"Challenge accepted," Raven said, getting up to get her phone from her room. 

"I'm not that bad, am I?" Clarke asked Octavia, who occupied Raven's seat and switched the channel to watch reruns of Rugrats.  

"Yeah, you are," Octavia told her, leaning over to steal a pancake off of Clarke's plate. "Sorry, sweetie."

"I told you!" Raven's voice echoed from the other end of the apartment as the Latina walked back to the living room, this time with her phone in hand. She held it out in triumph for Clarke to read. 

"I'm not going to read it, Raven," Clarke said in a flat tone. 

"Because you know I'm right," Raven retorted, taking a seat on the couch next to Octavia. "So, why're you all dressed up today? Fess up, blondie."

"I'm meeting someone for lunch in a few hours," Clarke said. 

"Who?"

"You don't know her," Clarke told them. "I met her yesterday at the mall when we were in Sephora."

"Oh, the person you ditched us for," Octavia said. "Does she have a name?"

"She does," Clarke told her, intending on annoying Octavia just a _little_ bit. Before the younger brunette could say anything, Clarke pulled Lexa's business card and attempted to toss it at Octavia, only to have it land by Clarke's feet. Physics.

"That was sad," Raven tsked, shaking her head as she stole the remote from Octavia and changed it back to her movie.

"Shut up," Clarke grumbled, picking up the business card to hand it to Octavia. "Here."

"What is it?' Octavia asked, taking the business card and not giving Clarke a chance to answer because of her scream. 

"Sweet Lord, control your screams, woman," Raven scolded, placing a hand over her chest in attempts to calm her racing heart. "You just gave me a heart attack."

Octavia ignored the Latina and jumped on Clarke to engulf her in a giant hug. "You're the best!"

"Your boobs are in my face," Clarke attempted to say, though her words were a little muffled due to obvious reasons. 

Octavia hopped off Clarke and sat next to the blonde on the love seat. The brunette ran her fingers through her hair as she stared at the card, then at Clarke. "Where did you get this?"

"Guys, don't leave me out of the conversation," Raven whined, muting the volume of the TV because she could obviously tell that this was a big deal.

"This is Alexandria Woods' business card," Octavia told Raven. "She gives out a max of ten or fifteen of these per year. This is, like, a gold mine for anyone who isn't rich that wants to work with her."

"What the fuck? Clarke, how did you get your hands on that?" Raven asked the blonde, who smiled as she took a sip of her coffee. 

"I know people," Clarke said, feeling her ego inflate just a little bit. "If you want a job, email her your resume. She'll personally look over it."

"Okay, that's it. I must have died and this is a dream," Octavia exaggerated, slumping over to fake her death, only to jump back up and reposition herself on the couch. "Are you serious?"

"Dead serious. She knows your name, too," Clarke said, wiggling her brows at Octavia. 

"Okay, fuck this. I going to polish my resume," Octavia told them, bolting out of her spot to run to her room, leaving Raven and Clarke in the living room. 

"Who gave you the business card?" Raven asked again, to which Clarke simply winked at her. 

 

 

 

Lexa was already seated at her private table in the back of the restaurant, and she would be lying if she said she hadn't gotten there a little early. It didn't really matter, though, because her table had been ready for her anyway. While she could have chosen Tachibana next door, she was afraid too much raw food would make her throw up, and that wasn't something she was willing to risk during her lunch  ~~date~~ ~~meeting~~ outing (?) with Clarke. 

It had just hit twelve o'clock when Lexa saw Clarke beeline to their table, and Lexa stood up to greet her. 

"You made it," Lexa smiled as Clarke greeted her with a hug. 

"Yep," Clarke told her as they pulled back and sat down opposite each other. "I underestimated the parking since I almost never come here for lunch on weekends, so I parked on the side of the street. They don't tow here, right?"

"Let's not forget that you're talking about McLean," Lexa said, eliciting a laugh from both of them.

"You're right. I don't even know why I worry," Clarke said before they opened up their menus. "Do you have a favorite dish here? I only ever order takeout, and I think the menus differ slightly."

"I usually get something with tofu, but that's just my personal taste. My best friend, Anya, gets the lobster, and her step-brother, Lincoln, usually goes for whatever special they have."

"They're both your business partners, right?" 

"Yes," Lexa answered, before one of the servers approached their table. 

"Welcome to House of Fortune. Would you like something to drink?" The server asked them, pulling out a pad and a pen. 

Lexa turned to Clarke. "What would you like to drink?"

"Bottled water, please," Clarke said to the server. 

"Make that two," Lexa told him, watching him nod his head and leave to get their drinks. "Anything look good to you?"

"I think I'll just stick with the pad thai that I usually get," Clarke said, closing up her menu. "How about you?"

"Probably the kung pao tofu," Lexa answered, closing up her menu. "Do spring rolls sound good to you for appetizers?"

"Yep," Clarke said with a smile, just as the waiter returned with their drinks. After taking their orders, he left once again. Clarke looked around the restaurant as Lexa took a sip of her water, then suddenly turned back to face Lexa. "Can I say something honest to you and you promise that you won't think bad of me?"

"You can tell me anything," Lexa told her.

"Okay, well, I think I've come here once, a max of twice, before to dine in-house, and I just felt like the service here was kind of rude," Clarke said. "I'm saying this because that waiter right now is the complete opposite of what I've experienced both here and in other Chinese restaurants."

Lexa smiled. "Yeah, I guess it would seem that way to most people. I learned that in the Chinese culture, they're not usually the type to come in and check up on you every five minutes. The waiters only come to you when you signal to them or make eye contact."

"Really?" Clarke said, finding herself learning something knew.

"That, and it helps that I tip well," Lexa said with a shit-eating grin, to which Clarke rolled her eyes playfully at. 

"Okay, well, that explains everything."

"I actually wanted to take you next door to the sushi restaurant," Lexa confessed. "Though, I've already had sushi twice this week, and I wasn't willing to risk food poisoning. It's my favorite restaurant ever."

"Maybe next time, then," Clarke said, catching Lexa's eye and drawing a smile out form the two of them.

"Monday?" Lexa asked with a little hope.

"A little confident, aren't we?" Clarke teased. "I would love to, but I have to go back into work on Monday. Tuesday?"

"I have a conference call at work during lunch, but dinner?"

"Sounds good to me," Clarke confirmed. The server came back to their table with their appetizer, then left. 

"So, I got an email from your roommate earlier today," Lexa mentioned as they both opened up their chopsticks and took a spring roll each.

"Did you now?" Clarke asked, though her tone of voice made it obvious that she knew about it. 

"Yep," Lexa confirmed. "I looked over her resume and read her cover letter, though I could tell that she was eager from the paragraph she wrote in the body of the email."

Clarke chuckled. "Yeah, I held off on giving her your business card until this morning because I knew she would freak out over it all night and not get any sleep. By the way, she said something about your business cards this morning that I want to ask you and know if it's true."

"Oh?" Lexa raised her brows. As far as she knew, there was nothing special about her business cards. 

"Do you really give out fifteen of them per year?"

Lexa let out a laugh at that. "Oh, that rumor."

"So, it's not true?"

"No, it isn't. It sounds a little pretentious, but I usually don't carry business cards with me anymore, because people know who I am, and if they want to get in contact with me, they would figure it out," Lexa told her. "Actually, now that I think about it, it's kind of a little bit true, but I don't actively track how many business cards I've given out and cut it off once I reach fifteen or whatever the number is. I like to think that I'm a good judge of character, and if I meet someone that I see myself becoming good business partners with them, I'll give them a business card. But, enough about me. The whole point of this lunch was so that you could talk about yourself."

"I feel awkward if you say it like that," Clarke said with a little blush on her cheeks. "I don't really know how to talk about myself. I'm not the type of person who could tell you their whole life story with no problem. You're going to have to ask some questions to jump start me."

"Okay," Lexa agreed, pausing to think of a question. "Okay, well, yesterday, we started off by what was bothering me. So, what was bothering you? Why did you feel like you needed a little cheering up at the mall? I know it's at least something related to your job."

"Right, well, you know that I work as a trauma surgeon," Clarke said to Lexa, who nodded at her statement. "It's a very stressful environment, and I don't think most people who into surgery, especially trauma, realize how many people die because they couldn't save them. I mean, I deal with death a lot, and it's very depressing. I'm five years in, and it's still sometimes hard for me to leave work at the door and relax when I get home. I was in the OR Thursday, and I almost fell apart after a ten-year-old kid died on the operating table in front of me. My job might not be as depressing as a psychologist, which, if you didn't know, is literally the most depressing job in America, but I feel like a piece of me dies with every person I can't save."

"No one's expecting you to become a robot," Lexa said in a soft voice. "You're human. You're bound to feel terrible if you feel another person couldn't survive because of you."

"Logically, I know that, but I internalize everything until I get some alone time to just drink and cry, and it sucks," Clarke told her, running her fingers through her hair. "I have to take my boards soon because I'm nearing the end of my residency, not to mention the deadline to get my research trial is soon, and I'm stressed out about everything, and— ugh, I just want to take a vacation and forget about my life for a while."

Lexa smiled at that. "Don't we all?"

Clarke let out a weak smiled and nodded her head. "Whoever decided that the single life is great should shut the hell up. I'm turning thirty-one and I wish I had someone to come home to. Don't get me wrong, I love rooming with my best friends, but there's nothing like winding down with your partner."

"Where have you been all my life?" Lexa said in a half-joking manner, but her expression became somber when she and Clarke locked eyes, and it was silent between them.

They only stopped their stare-off when the waiter came back with their food, and the two ladies avoided eye contact until he left. They stared at various objects on their table until they both happened to look up and catch each others' eyes, then began laughing.

 

 

 

"That does not look like Hello Kitty, Lexa. It's obviously Popeye," Clarke told her, popping another Jolly Rancher in her mouth.

"Clearly, all that time in the OR has fried your brain, because that is definitely not Popeye," Lexa said, extending her hand to point at the sky. "That top right corner is her left ear, and those clouds a little ways out are her whiskers."

"I've never seen a cat with detached whiskers floating near her head."

"They're clouds, Clarke. That's the point," Lexa said with a good natured nudge to Clarke's arm.

They'd paid for their meal (after a ridiculous little argument as to who should pay the bill, they split it, much to Lexa's annoyance, because "it's my treat, Clarke") over an hour ago, and both admitted that they didn't want to end their hangout. So, it was decided that Clarke would drop off her car since her apartment was closer, and Lexa drove the two of them to Turkey Run Park after a pit stop at a convenience store to buy some candy and water.

"They're clouds, Clarke. That's the point," Clarke mimicked, earning a laugh from Lexa. They both chose to lie in the middle of a field of tall grass, staring at cloud while conversation flowed easily between them. "It doesn't feel like I met you yesterday. This is very out of character of me. I don't lie in the middle of fields staring at clouds with strangers."

"We're not strangers if we've basically poured our life story out to each other," Lexa reminded her. "Can you pass the candy?"

Clarke passed the bag to Lexa. Her phone vibrated next to her head, so she reached over and checked the caller ID. "Sorry, it's my roommate," Clarke told Lexa, who gave her a thumbs up as Clarke accepted the call and pressed the smartphone to her ear. "Hello?"

" _Your car's out front, but you weren't in your room_ ," Octavia said. 

"I'm still out. I just went back to drop off my car," Clarke told her.

" _Are you with Raven?_ "

"No," Clarke answered, turning her head to smile once she saw Lexa accidentally drop the bag of candy on her face. "Did you need something?"

" _I was going to say that I found this nice house—"_

"I'm going to stop you right there. If you can convince Raven into moving, then we can have this conversation," Clarke interrupted.

" _So, you want to move?_ "

"I didn't say that. All I care about is having a roof over my head. Whether that's the apartment we have now, or someplace new, I really don't care," Clarke told her. "I'll be home later. Bye, O."

" _Clar—_ "

The blonde hung up on her friend and tossed her phone aside.

"Roommate problems?" Lexa asked. She ended up handing the Jolly Ranchers back to Clarke and opening up a bag of gummy worms.

"They're fighting over moving, and I honestly cannot care any less," Clarke told her, reaching for a few gummy worms when Lexa offered. "I just don't want to be in the middle of it."

"Is rent rising quickly?" Lexa asked.

"Ours rose fifteen percent when we went to sign a new contract. It's ridiculous."

"So, why don't you move?"

"I have no problem moving, but I also have no problem staying. I can afford the rent. One of my roommates, Octavia, is concerned that when her contract with Hilton ends, she'll have to live somewhere else for her next job and ditch us in the middle of our apartment contract. My other roommate, Raven, and I would have to pay more to cover the missing rent. Raven doesn't want to move because the apartment we live in is so convenient for her. She can literally walk five minutes to her job, or to the grocery store if she wanted to. The metro stop is about ten minutes if you walk. Everything is in great proximity for her. I just want this stupid fight to be over."

"Have you ever thought about renting a house or a townhouse? Or maybe just even buying one?" Lexa asked. "I saw that there were a couple across the road, so Raven could still walk to work."

"The houses in this area are insane. Those tiny houses they built in the fifties are now worth almost a million dollars, and the land isn't even big enough for a lot of them if we want to expand. No way are we paying for something that tiny."

"The results of gentrification." 

"Yeah, well, it can kiss my ass," Clarke said, staring at the clouds. "That one looks like a purse."

"I have no idea what you're talking about, because that one looks like a monkey."

Clarke gave Lexa an incredulous look. "On what planet is that a monkey?"

"Planet Lexa, located just outside the solar system," Lexa informed her. "Cost of living is free, and it's certified as the happiest planet in the solar system."

"Where can I get a ticket?" Clarke joked.

"You can get a ticket for free if you admit that cloud looks like a monkey," Lexa told her, to which Clarke stuck out her tongue.

"In your dreams, bucko. There's something called dignity on Planet Clarke."

"Well, then I'm afraid Planet Lexa cannot grant you entry."

"Planet Lexa sounds like a dictatorship. Follow my rules and stay or get the hell out."

"That so called dictatorship has the happiest citizens and best cost of living."

"Fake news. Fake media spreading fake news."

Lexa laughed. "Did you just make a political reference?"

"Yeah, I'm gutsy like that," Clarke joked. "But in all seriousness, two nurses were suspended last week because they threw punches over politics."

"Seriously?" Lexa asked her. "I'm so glad I implemented the no politics rule after the election. With the hotheads working for me, I wouldn't be surprised if the entire floor turned into the Hunger Games."

"In all seriousness, where do you stand on politics?" Clarke asked Lexa. If this friendship (?) were to go anywhere, they needed to have this out in the open.

"I hate all governments everywhere. The candidates this year are the worst of them all. One is a snake in disguise, the other is a fruit who can't lie to save his life. None of them have solid plans. Politicians these days only care about selling weapons and creating conflict to make money and maintain power. They all disgust me."

When Lexa turned to look at Clarke, the blonde was smiling so wide, her cheeks started to hurt. She rested her body weight on her arm and leaned over to plant one giant kiss on Lexa. When they broke apart, Lexa's head was spinning.

"Woah," Lexa breathed.

"Where have you been all my life?" Clarke asked, smiling when Lexa realized that she repeated the brunette's question from earlier. 

"Up in Pittsburgh until I came to Georgetown for college," Lexa told her, brushing a strand of Clarke's hair behind her ear. "Where have you been all of mine?"

"Growing up here until I went to school at UPenn."

"Smarticle particle."

"You're such a nerd," Clarke chuckled. 

"Says the surgeon," Lexa threw back, all in good nature. "We basically switched places."

"How likely do you think it is that we would have crossed paths if I stayed here?" 

"I have an answer for that, and if I'm right, ask me again I'll tell you in two months," Lexa said. She pulled out her phone and went to her calendar, setting a timer for the date exactly two months from that day. "I have a reminder set up with my answer, and I want to be sure that I'm correct."

"Because you're an oh so good judge of character?" Clarke teased.

"I'd like to think so," Lexa said. Her phone rang, much to her annoyance, and when she glanced at the caller ID, it was her brother. "I'm sorry. I know we had a moment there, but I really have to take this. It's my brother. He doesn't really call unless it's important."

"Go for it," Clarke told her, patting Lexa's shoulder twice before rolling off of her. She gathered the empty candy wrappers and stood up. "I'm going to find a trashcan. I'll be right back."

Lexa nodded her head to let Clarke know that she heard as she pressed her cellphone to her ear. "Hello?"

" _Hypothetically speaking,_ " Aden began, to which Lexa rolled her eyes because she knew that this couldn't be any good. " _Would you have my room ready for me if I happened to be forty minutes or so from your house?_ "

"You can't be serious," Lexa said, as she sat up. "You're not supposed to be here until next week!"

" _That's why I said hypothetically speaking._ "

"Aden," Lexa said in a stern voice.

" _Okay, okay, I'm sorry. All my friends are gone and I have nothing to do, so I lied to mom and told her you said I could come a week early. I cannot handle any more of her babying me_."

"You should have used every last drop of it, because adulthood sucks," Lexa told him. "I just need to pull out sheets for you, but otherwise, everything is ready. I'm out of the house right now, but I should be home right just right around the time you get there."

" _Thank you so much, Lex,_ " Aden sighed. " _Seriously, I owe you_."

"Hell, yeah, you do," Lexa agreed, standing up to stretch when she saw Clarke walking back. "I'm going to hang up now so that you can focus on driving. I'll see you at home. Love you."

" _Love you, too. Bye, Lex._ "

Lexa hung up the phone just as Clarke joined her. "Everything okay with your brother?"

"He's the idiot of the century," Lea told her as she pocketed her phone. "He's supposed to room with me when he starts at Georgetown in a few weeks, and lo and behold, he shows up a week early."

Clarke pouted. "Boo, I was looking forward to our little arguments over clouds. But, can't do much about it if your brother needs to get settled in."

Clarke bent to get the plastic bag filled with candy and water bottles, then stood back up. 

"I really wish we could stay here," Lexa admitted.

"Not so fast, buddy. I don't put out on the first date."

Lexa couldn't have blushed any harder. "That's not what I meant!"

"I know, but it's fun teasing you," Clarke chuckled, pinching Lexa's cheek. 

"Wait, this was a date?" 

"Well, I could always take that kiss back if you don't want it to be a date," Clarke trailed.

"How are you going to do that?" Lexa asked with a little smirk. "You're the one that initiated it."

"Well, then you're going to have to steal it back for me."

"My, my. How presumptuous of you," Lexa noted, leaning in anyway for another kiss. Lexa could feel Clarke smiling into the kiss, and just as she was about to deepen it, Clarke pulled back.

"You should probably know that if we don't stop, you're probably going to forget about your brother."

"Brother? What brother?" Lexa asked, smiling when Clarke rolled her eyes and softly punched Lexa's arm. 

"Come on. Don't forget that you need to drop me off first," Clarke said, taking Lexa's hand and pulling her back towards the trail that would lead to the parking lot.

"I could always hide you under a blanket and sneak you in."

"We're not teenagers, Lexa."

"Oh, the glory days," Lexa sighed. 

"You're such a goof. I can't believe you've been single for— wait, how old are you?"

"Isn't it, like, the number one rule _not_ to ask a lady that question?" Lexa asked as she intertwined their hands once they started walking side by side. "I just turned thirty-three last month."

"You've been single for five years?"

"Yeah, which is why I've always felt like shit when I couldn't find someone that I really clicked with," Lexa answered, smiling at Clarke when she voiced the last part of the sentence. 

"I met you yesterday and I kissed you. Twice," Clarke said. "Doesn't that feel a little weird for you?"

"No," Lexa told her. "People who go on blind dates essentially know nothing about each other, and yet, some of them have full on relationships. I don't see how that's any different. Besides, I'd be lying if I said I didn't find you attractive when we met yesterday."

"Oh, really?" Clarke smirked, glancing at Lexa. "Tell me more."

"Are you kidding?" Lexa raised a brow. "Have you seen yourself? You're gorgeous."

Clarke didn't think that Lexa would actually go through with it, and her face now faced the consequence of turning beet red. "Okay, you can stop. No more."

Lexa turned to see Clarke's embarrassment obvious on her face. "Clarke—"

"Oh, look. There's your car!" Clarke detached herself from Lexa to hastily walk away from feeling any more embarrassed. It wasn't that Lexa embarrassed her, but Clarke felt embarrassed by the comments because she was never really going to be used to people praising her or complimenting her. 

"I have the keys, you know," Lexa called out, pulling her keys out as she jogged to catch up with Clarke. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Please leave some comments! I'd love to know what you guys think of this story and whether it's something I should continue or not.
> 
> ALSO: any betas out there willing to comb over my stories for me? thank you!


	4. Chapter 4

"Clarke, can you take the potato wedges out of the oven?" Raven asked as she washed the pan she'd just used to cook some stir fry. The oven timer beeped again, so she knew that Clarke didn't do it. "Clarke."

The timer beeped a third time and Raven sighed. She rinsed the pan and abandoned it on the drying rack, then took a mitt and open the oven to take the tray of potato wedges out herself. She placed the tray on the stove to cool and tossed the mitt in the basket, then turned around and leaned on the counter, crossing her arms when she saw Clarke perched on the chest freezer, typing away on her phone. 

"RAT!"

Clarke jumped and pulled her feet onto the chest freezer with the rest of her body. "Fuck! Where?"

"Really? That's what gets your attention?" Raven deadpanned, watching Clarke scowl and sit normally when she realized there was no rat.

"I didn't hear you the first time," Clarke told her, grabbing her phone to resume texting. Before she could even unlock her phone, Raven swooped it and stole it from her, shoving Clarke's phone in her bra. "Seriously?"

"I need you to not be attached to your phone for five minutes, please," Raven said. "Who's got you so distracted? That chick from the mall?"

"Maybe," Clarke answered, holding her hand out. "Can I have my phone back?"

"Not until you answer my questions," Raven told her. "What's her name?"

Clarke hesitated. She didn't want to give too much away, especially since there was a possibility that Lexa might hire Octavia. Professionally, she was known as Alexandria Woods, so Clarke deemed it safe to spill some details to Raven. "Lexa."

"So, you and Lexa went on a date yesterday?" Raven teased, and Clarke rolled her eyes.

"It didn't start out as a date, but by the end of it, we kind of agreed that it felt like one," Clarke told her, dropping her hand to grip the edge of the chest freezer. "I don't think I've ever clicked with anyone that fast or that well."

"What's she like?" Raven asked Clarke.

Clarke bit her lip. "Incredible. She's gorgeous. Such a goof and she makes me laugh a lot. We poured out our built up frustrations and talked to each other about a lot of private stuff in our lives, and it was like we understood each other so well. The kind of understanding that you get from knowing someone for years, and it's crazy that I only met her a couple days ago."

"You were out for a while, from what Octavia told me last night. I thought you were going out to lunch."

"That was the plan, and we did go out to lunch, but we both admitted we didn't want the date to end, so I dropped off my car and we went to get some water and candy from the gas station. She drove us to Turkey Run Park and we laid in the middle of a field of tall grass and stared at clouds for a few hours. We talked about everything, even politics."

"That was a risky move," Raven said. "She must be very cool if you guys are still talking."

"She's the best," Clarke grinned. "I mean, we probably would've stayed longer, but her brother drove up to her house a week earlier than he was supposed to and she had to get him settled in since he's going to be living with her while going to college."

"Did you kiss?" 

"Twice," Clarke told her. "I got this warm, fuzzy feeling when we did, and it was great."

"So, by how well it's going, I'm going to assume that you guys are planning for another date?"

"Yeah, dinner on Tuesday."

Raven's face fell. "Clarke, Octavia's birthday is on Tuesday, remember?"

Clarke furrowed her brows. "No, it isn't. The sixth is on Wednesday."

"It's Tuesday, Clarke," Raven repeated, counting the dates on her hand. "Today's the fourth, Monday is the fifth, and Tuesday is the sixth. She's playing hooky on Wednesday to cure her hangover since you're not going into work anyway. Plus, you're picking Bell up from the airport on Tuesday when his flight lands at noon so that we can surprise O."

Clarke began panicking slightly. "Fuck! Hand me my phone. I need to reschedule with Lexa."

Raven reached into her bra and pulled out Clarke's phone, handing it to the blonde. Clarke immediately grabbed it and opened the text conversation with Lexa.

 _Clarke_ :  
Hey, sorry! Raven stole my phone, hence the  
abrupt end in conversation.

 _Clarke_ :  
Also, my idiotic self just realized that Octavia's  
birthday is in fact on Tuesday and not Wednesday,  
so is there any chance we can raincheck to   
Wednesday lunch?

 _Lexa_ :  
No worries. We can definitely do Wednesday. Do  
you still want the sushi restaurant?

 _Clarke_ :  
Yes! And I'm coming in with high expectations,  
so I better not be disappointed. 

 _Lexa_ :  
You won't be ;)

 _Lexa_ :  
I hate to go, but I'm shopping with my brother for  
school supplies and stuff for his room.  
Talk later?

 _Clarke:_  
Count on it. Have fun!

"I find it amusing that you're not phased anymore when I pull your shit out of my bra," Raven said, making sure that all the dishes were in serving bowls.

"They're just boobs," Clarke said. "Your underwear, on the other hand, is an entirely different matter."

"Has the crisis been handled?"

"Rescheduled to Wednesday," Clarke told her as she locked her phone. She hopped down and walked over to help Raven with prepping lunch. 

"Man, you two are eager," Raven teased. 

"When you find someone that you really get along with and share similar stances on things, you tend to want to spend time together," Clarke told her. "We're both looking for a relationship, so we obviously want to get to know each other, especially since we have so much in common."

"You are getting way too sappy for me," Raven told her, handing Clarke the salad bowl and the plate of potato wedges. "Take these, and I'll grab the rice and stir fry. Tell O that lunch is ready while I grab the plates."

The two of them placed the dishes on the coffee table in the living room (because who uses the dining table anymore?) and Clarke left to walk down the hall, knocking on Octavia's door before opening it. The brunette was at her desk reading over what Clarke knew to be reports on the project she was working on for Hilton Hotels.

"Hey," Clarke greeted, gathering Octavia's attention. "Lunch iss ready."

"Thank the heavens," Octavia sighed, wasting no time in abandoning her work to stand up and follow Clarke down the hall. "I was about to tear my eyes out staring at those reports."

"Tough time?" Raven asked as the two women walked into the living room.

"There's just some delayed shipment on some stuff, and we have a deadline that we need to stick to, but some people apparently don't understand that, the first of them being my boss," Octavia grumbled, taking a plate and beginning to serve herself dinner. "He and his three-hundred grand salary can kiss my ass. Even while in Europe, he still finds ways to annoy me."

"So, I'm taking it that you won't be relying on him as a professional reference any time soon, right?"

"Hell would have to freeze over before that ever happens."

The three of them took their seats on their choice of furniture, and Raven turned the TV on to watch the Mystics' game, the volume muted because the commentators were unnecessary.

"How's your research proposal going?" Octavia asked Clarke, starting on the quinoa salad Raven had put together. "You're submitting it soon, right?"

"I'm submitting this week, but I'm trying to make sure that I've got everything in order," Clarke sighed. "I had a few people at work look it over, too, and I should hear a response back from some of the attendings about it tomorrow."

"You'll do great, champ," Raven encouraged, nudging Clarke's foot with her own. "Seriously, you're smart. Maybe not as smart as me, but still smart." 

Clarke rolled her eyes at Raven. "Thanks. I can always count on your superiority complex to reassure me, Rae."

Raven winked at her and continued to eat her food, while Octavia shook her head at the Latina.

"Never mind Raven, Clarke. You'll do great, and they're going to have to accept your proposal," Octavia told her.

Clarke sighed and nodded, not saying anything more. Octavia on the other hand, turned her head to Raven, who cursed in Spanish when she saw the Mystics foul.

"So, should we even bother asking about _your_ job?" Octavia asked, narrowing her eyes at the Latina.

"Nope," Raven answered, shoveling a forkful of salad in her mouth. "Unless you want to 'mysteriously disappear,' that is."

 

 

 

 

"So," Aden said, pausing to test the stiffness of the pillow in his hands. "How's work going?" 

Lexa let out an amused smile at her brother. She stood up from where she was leaning on the cart to walk over and pinch Aden's cheeks. "Look at you, all grown up."

Aden lightly slapped away her hands and scowled. "I'm not a rugrat."

"Might as well have been," Lexa told him, retreating back to the handles of the shopping cart. "I remember feeding you and changing your stinky diapers, and before I knew it, you're starting at college."

" _Please_ don't turn into mom," Aden begged. "It was hard enough leaving yesterday morning. She sent ten tupperwares of home cooked food with me."

"That just means no effort on our part for the next few days," Lexa told him. "We usually leave work kind of late, so most of what we eat is take out. I think breakfast might be the only meal we make during the week."

"How early do you guys leave?" Aden asked, satisfied with the pillows, picking two to put in the cart. He complained to Lexa that her pillows weren't at all comfortable, and she couldn't really blame him, seeing as she, Lincoln, and Anya had a habit of switching their pillows with the ones in the guest rooms if theirs became too floppy.

"I like to be at the office by eight, so we'll usually leave at least half an hour before," Lexa told him. "Throw in a couple more pillows. We're tossing out the old ones."

Aden grabbed a few more and tossed them into Lexa's cart. There were smart to bring two shopping carts with them rather than one. 

"What's the name of the mall near your house?" Aden asked, trying to recall the name, though seeing as he wasn't a native to the area, it constantly slipped his mind. It wasn't often that he visited Virginia, because his sister made it more of a habit to go up to her family in Pittsburgh or plan out vacations to other destinations. 

"You mean Tysons?" Lexa asked, raising a brow. She hadn't the slightest clue as to why her brother would want to go to the mall. He was very reserved and not one to go out to public places unless he was with his family or his close friends. 

"Yeah, that," Aden said, grabbing ahold of the second cart and pushing it out of the aisle, making sure to walk adjacent to his sister. "Can we go there next?"

"Sure, but why? You hate going to the mall."

"I want to buy some new clothes, if that's cool with you," he told her. Lexa noticed that his luggage seemed a bit lacking when he arrived yesterday, and he told her in passing that much of his clothes had shrunk and he hadn't had time to shop for a new wardrobe. "By the way, I just need to get some bathroom stuff and we can leave."

"I don't have a problem with it, but did you have any stores in mind?" 

"No, I just thought I'd walk in and see what looked good," he told her as they rounded into the personal care aisle. Aden immediately tossed some shampoo, conditioner,  and deodorant, then went for the shaving gear. Lexa tossed a loofa and body wash in her brother's cart as well, knowing the teenager was likely to forget about it. Within a few minutes, they were out of the aisle and moving towards checkout.

They happened to pass the food section, and Lexa paused to turn to her brother. "We're probably not going to have a lot of groceries or snacks at home, so if you want anything, you should grab stuff now."

Aden looked guiltily at all the stuff in his cart and hesitated as he turned to his sister. "Are you sure?"

"Positive," Lexa smiled. "I can cover it."

With that, they spend the next twenty minutes picking out groceries and snacks, but there was still some obvious hesitance on Aden's part. Anything she sees her brother's eyes lingering on for a second too long, Lexa dumped in his shopping cart. 

"Lexa," Aden said. 

"I told you it's fine," she repeated. "I'm not mom. You're a healthy person, and most of what you've been eyeing is healthy, or as close to healthy as it can get. A few preservatives here and there are fine. I know you're not used to this, but money is not an object for me."

"I'm more worried that I'm not going to eat all of this," Aden said, gesturing to the nearly full cart in front of him, most of its contents food. 

"Don't worry. As long as Anya's in the house, there's no concern for food disposal," Lexa dryly commented, still bitter at the tiramasu she'd made years ago during a cooking stint, only to wake up the next day and find that half of it was already on its way to Anya's stomach. "If you really want to leave, though, we should probably go now so that we can make it to the mall."

It was partly busy for a Sunday, but they thankfully got through the line rather quickly. Lexa had to use the bathroom and handed Aden her credit card, telling him to swipe and sign for her. He was surprised at the heaviness of the black card his sister handed him, and it only really hit him then on how rich his sister was. Up until that point, that concert was very vague for him. The fifteen-year age difference between them meant that Lexa was already working when Aden had just started school, and she had already set her company down in Virginia. When they saw each other, it wasn't very often, only during long weekends and vacations, though she would also sometimes pop in when she took day trips to meetings or the like in Pittsburgh. 

Thankfully, Lexa was back before Aden had to swipe the card (and technically commit a crime), and he was quiet the whole way back home. It wasn't until they were on their way to the mall that Lexa spoke. 

"You okay?"

"Yeah, I'm fine," Aden told her, forcing a smile, though his sister knew him better than anyone. They might not always be physically in the same area, but they talked a lot. Lexa was the first person he told about his achievements, losses and fears. She knew about his first kiss, first girlfriend, and his reservations about sex before marriage long before their mother ever did. 

"You've been quiet since we left Target," she said. "Is something bothering you?"

Aden pursed his lips. "I don't think I ever realized it until today. How much money you have. I mean, I always knew in the back of my mind that you made a lot of money because you had a private jet and you could take us on vacations every year all over the world, but it never really registered until you gave me your card. It's an invite-only card, and you have to spend a certain amount every year to be invited. That's a vague concept for me. I can't connect my sister, the lame thirty-year-old—"

"Hey!"

"—who drives a ten-year-old car and buys Crocs knockoffs for five bucks, to the billionaire who brushes shoulders with and Warren Buffet and European royalty like it's nothing. You're a household name. It's weird."

"You're not wrong on that," she said. "I didn't get used to it until I hit my thirties. Even now, it's still weird for me. I look at the number in my bank account, and I have not idea how to get rid of it. It keeps growing at a fast rate, and doesn't really seem to go down, no matter how much of it I give away. I got freaked out when I hit my first million, you know."

"Because it made everything real," she told him. "I love my job. I'm not miserable when I work. I'm my own boss. Before I made my first million, everything that I was doing was still a dream."

"Becoming rich?"

"Not rich per se, but successful," she told him. "Unfortunately, people tend to coincide that with the number in your bank account. I was trying to make my company successful and build it up from the ground when large corporations crush small businesses. People always told me that small businesses had no place it America because the country was, essentially, a giant corporation. I took that as a challenge and I want to prove those people wrong. A company established prior to 2000 didn't mean that they had the upper hand with time. I wanted to start a small business and transform it quickly to a corporate powerhouse. I wanted to build a model for other small businesses to follow. And it wasn't until that I did that I realized I had more money than I knew what to do with."

"Isn't that kind of depressing, though? Working your whole life to prove a point and then realize that you wasted away your youth doing that?"

Lexa cracked a grin and rolled her eyes. "You are such a millennial."

"I hate it when people use that word," Aden muttered. "They act like it's an insult."

"Well, I don't use it like that," she told him. "But yeah, it got depressing, especially when I became single again. I was rich, successful, relatively young. But who the hell was I going to share it with? I cut back on work when I was dating Costia. You remember her, right?"

"Vaguely. I remember her slipping candy into my hand under the dinner table."

Lexa smiled and shook her head as she pulled into one of the parking garages. "Anyway, when we broke up, it was like I had a lot of free time all of a sudden. I went out, had fun for a while, but then it just got old. I'm not like Anya. I don't enjoy being single. It's too lonely for me."

"The grass is always greener on the other side," Aden told her. 

"Look at you, using metaphors."

"You can stop babying me now," he said, trying to shield himself when Lexa tried to tickle him. "Stop it! You're supposed to be finding a parking spot."

Lexa pulled her hand away, focusing on the task at hand. It took them a little while to find a decent parking spot, but when they did, Lexa parked the card and grabbed her phone and purse, throwing her car keys in the latter.

"What kind of style did you have in mind?" She asked her brother as they walked to the nearest entrance.

"I was thinking the dressy kind of casual. You know, like nice pants and collared shirts and stuff."

"Got your eye on someone?" Lexa teased, nudging Aden with her elbow, but otherwise leading him to Zara once they stepped foot in the mall. 

"No, I just figured since I'll be starting at Georgetown, I should look nice," he told her. "There's a lot of politicians' kids and stuff. I want people to take me seriously."

"Not everyone there is going to be dressed business casual," she told him. "People wear t-shirts at Georgetown, too."

"I know, but I want to dress to impress. I never really cared for what people thought of me in high school, because that was always temporary, but college is what kind of defines you," he told her. "I'm doing it for me, I promise."

"If you're sure," Lexa said. "I'm still not used to the fact that you're an adult."

"I'm half a foot taller than you."

"You're still that baby who needed his diapers changed," Lexa said, tugging him into Zara. "Come on. Let's find something that suits you, no pun intended."

Aden snorted. "You are such a nerd."

Lexa smiled faintly, thinking of when Clarke said the exact same thing to her yesterday. "Yeah, I am."


	5. Chapter 5

Clarke pulled back the curtain while looking at her tablet. "Okay, Ms. Forrest. My name is Doctor Griffin. It says here that you had a recent anxiety attack."

"Just call me Anya, please," the half-Tibetan woman said. "And, yeah, I did. It lasted about fifteen minutes, and I came straight here."

"Have you been diagnosed with anxiety?" Clarke asked, stepping into the small space.

"No, but I know what one is," Anya grumbled.

Clarke looked up from her device and smiled politely at Anya. Many patients came in insisting that they knew their diagnosis better than their doctor, and frankly, it got old real quick. "Well, just to be safe, I'm just going to ask you some more questions and do quick examinations."

"I have a lot of work to do, so how fast do you think I can get out of here?" Anya asked. 

"It depends on how my examination goes," Clarke told her truthfully, placing the tablet aside after closing the curtain. She pulled her stethoscope out of the pocket of her lab coat and adjusted the earpieces in her ears. "Blazer off please, and untuck your chemise for me."

Anya sighed, but did as she was told. Clarke ran the cool diaphragm along Anya's back and chest, pausing to check her heartbeat. When she was done, she removed the stethoscope and shoved it back into her pocket, turning to the tablet to record a few notes. 

"Alright, Anya. I just need to ask a few questions. Have you had any past history with mental illness, or any in the family?"

"None that I know of."

"History with seizures?"

"None."

"Any recent surgeries?"

"No."

"Have you been diagnosed with PTSD, OCD, or any anxiety-related or panic-related disorder?"

"No."

"Have you taken any medication recently?"

"Other than the occasional ibuprofen for cramps, but I suppose that doesn't count."

Clarke smiled in amusement as she took notes. "It might. Do you drink?"

"Yeah, I do."

"How much and how often?"

"At least a beer every other day. I like to drink vodka and a ton of liquor."

Clarke pursed her lips as she jotted that down. "Drugs?"

"Never."

"Any stress in your life?"

"I guess it would be work, but I have a very high position in the company, so it would only be natural."

"Any herbal medicines that you've tried recently, or any other over-the-counter drugs other than Ibuprofen?"

"No."

"How much is your caffeine intake?"

"I drink a cup of Lipton in the morning."

"Every morning?" 

"No, more like two or three times a week," Anya told her, watching the young blonde doctor take notes on her tablet, then placed it aside in favor of a penlight.

"Okay, if you could stare straight ahead while I shine some light in your eyes," Clarke said, turning on the light as Anya followed her instructions. She conducted her neural exam, then jotted down the notes in her tablet. 

"Am I done?" Anya asked. 

"Not quite," Clarke told the businesswoman. "I'd like to schedule an ECG for you."

"What is that?"

"It's a test that allows us to take a closer look at your heart," Clarke explained. "Your breathing is different from that of a normal person's, and it is very common for ECGs to be conducted with patients who have experienced panic attacks because they often confuse them with heart attacks. I'd like to rule out all the worst-case scenarios before diagnosing you."

Anya sighed. "Does it have to be done today?"

"I strongly recommend it," Clarke answered. 

Anya glanced at the time on her wristwatch. There was no way she was going to make it back to the office before lunch was over. "Okay, fine."

"Perfect," Clarke smiled. "If you could just hang tight, and I'll be sure to get you when the machine is available."

 

 

 

"Raven, come on," Octavia pleaded.

"You've asked me a hundred times before and my answer is still the same," Raven told her. "No. I'm not moving. I don't want to, and I don't fucking have to."

"You're being unreasonable."

" _Unreasonable_? Octavia, there's no possible way that _I'm_ being unreasonable. Why the hell would I want to make my life more complicated by moving far away from my job? They started putting twenty-dollar tolls on the highway. Like hell I'm moving!"

"You're going to pay my half once I leave."

"That's mine and Clarke's issue to worry about. We don't have a problem staying here. I'm not putting myself through the hassle of moving, only for you to leave in a few months," Raven told her. "I can afford it, so I'm staying here. Clarke can afford this place, too. You're the only one with an issue staying here. I'm so tired of having this argument. My answer is final, and it's not changing."

Raven stuffed in her earbuds and played her music before leaving the apartment. Octavia sighed and slipped off her heels. She'd gotten home much later that day trying to speed up the process on shipments for the exhibition they were setting up at the convention center in DC.

Octavia grabbed her work bag and her purse and walked into her bedroom to dump all the contents on her bed. She dug through her purse for her phone and immediately went to call her brother when she found it. Octavia let out a deep sigh and ran her fingers through her hair when she heard the answering machine. 

" _Hey, you've reached Bellamy. I can't talk right now, but leave a message and I'll get back to you. Raven, if this is you, my answer is already no_."

Octavia sighed and hung up the phone, then redialed. She began changing while it rang, and when Bellamy's answering machine came on again, Octavia hung up, opting to send him a message instead.

 ** _Octavia_** :  
PICK UP YOUR PHONE

 ** _Octavia_** :  
I need to talk to you.

She kept an eye on her phone while she changed and pulled out the reports and her laptop from her work bag, but Bellamy didn't answer. It would have been around seven in the morning Australia time, so Bellamy should have been awake, and if he wasn't, it was likely he was working all night or forgot to charge his phone. 

Octavia tossed her phone aside and opened up her work computer. It unlocked to show the email she was in the middle of writing to the publicist for the event, and Octavia just did not want to continue writing it. Working for Hilton was great, but her boss made her life a living hell. Out of all the projects so far, this was by far her least favorite. Her coworkers were so damn rude, and she couldn't wait to get the hell out of there in three months. A new email notification had popped up, and the brunette nearly fainted when she saw who it was from.

 

to: octavia@oblake.com

from: alexandria@woodsfinancial.com

Subject: Interview

Dear Ms. Blake,

Thank you for your keen interest in working for Woods Financial and Holdings. Upon reviewing your resume, I was deeply impressed by your experience and would like to schedule an interview within the next few weeks. We have some exciting upcoming projects we'd like you to be apart of. 

Regards,

Alexandria Woods  
CEO, Board Chairman

 

Octavia let out the largest scream known to man. 

Clarke, who had just closed the front door, immediately rushed into the brunette's room, fearing the worst. "What happened?"

"I got an interview with Woods Financial!" Octavia screamed, jumping up from her bed to do a little dance.

Clarke let out a sigh of relief and picked up a t-shirt from Octavia's clothes hamper, aiming and launching it perfectly at Octavia's face. "You piece of shit! I thought someone broke in or something."

"I got an interview with Woods Financial, I got an interview with Woods Financial," Octavia sang, not even bothering to address the t-shirt to her face. She danced in a circle around Clarke, which was kind of difficult considering the size of her room, but whenever Octavia was in a good mood, practically nothing could ruin it. 

"Can I see the email?" Clarke asked, and Octavia practically yanked the blonde to the computer perched on her bed. Clarke quickly read the email, and bit the inside of her cheek in order to avoid laughing out loud. The Lexa she talked to did not sound like this whatsoever. "Did you reply?"

"Oh, shit, I have to do that," Octavia cursed, suddenly remembering that she had to confirm the date. "Fuck, I don't know what to say."

"O, it's literally a two to three sentence email. It's not that hard."

"You're talking about a woman who gets over a thousand emails everyday."

"And she still replied to yours. If she's offering you a job, then she's probably going to answer your email," Clarke told her, already on her way out of the brunette's room. "I'm going to go take a shower, and then we can make some dinner."

Octavia absentmindedly nodded at Clarke and waved her off. Clarke rolled her eyes at her roommate as she left Octavia's room for her own. She put her purse on her bed and pulled out her phone, going to the text conversation with Lexa

 

 _ **Clarke**_ :  
Nice email, nerd.

 

Clarke placed her phone on her nightstand long enough to grab a towel from her closet, and when she came back, there was already a reply from Lexa. 

 

 ** _Lexa_** :  
?

 ** _Lexa_** :  
I didn't send you an email. I don't even have your  
email address.

 ** _Clarke_** :  
Dear Ms. Blake, Thank you for your keen interest  
in working for Woods Financial and Holdings.

 ** _Lexa_** :  
Oh. That. 

 ** _Lexa_** :  
I take it she already read it?

 ** _Clarke_** :  
She's freaking out on how to reply. I can't figure  
out if I find it cute or annoying.

 ** _Lexa_** :  
I'm sure I'll be entertained when I read her reply.

 ** _Clarke_** :  
Be sure to show me a copy XD

 ** _Lexa_** :  
I will ;)

 ** _Lexa_** :  
How was work today?

 ** _Clarke_** :  
Not bad. It was a little slower than usual, but I'm  
not complaining. What about you?

 ** _Lexa_** :  
My CFO was gone half the day -_-

 ** _Lexa_** :  
I was a little annoyed, especially because she was  
my ride home.

 ** _Clarke_** :  
Your best friend, right?

 ** _Lexa_** :  
Yeah, Anya. Lincoln and I had to take a cab home.

 ** _Clarke_** :  
No Uber?

 ** _Lexa_** :  
I'm not a big fan of Uber, especially when there's  
forty idle taxi drivers a block away from the office  
waiting on a job in a dying business. 

 ** _Lexa_** :  
A bunch of the taxi drivers are immigrants, which  
really sucks when Uber is vacuuming all of their  
customers.

 ** _Clarke_** :  
Who doesn't love capitalism, am I right?

Clarke waited for a reply, but after a few minutes of radio silence, she figured that Lexa must have been occupied, especially since she didn't read Clarke's last text. Clarke placed her phone back on the nightstand and grabbed her towel to shower in the ensuite. When she stepped out fifteen minutes later, she saw a new text notification pop up on her phone.

 ** _Lexa_** :  
Can I call you?

Rather than replying, Clarke immediately dialed Lexa's number, and put the phone on speaker while she changed. Her undergarments were on by the time Lexa answered. 

" _Hey_ ," Lexa greeted, and by how her voice sounded, Clarke assumed that she was on speakerphone, too.

"Hey," Clarke said, pulling on a pair of leggings. "Everything okay?"

" _Yeah. I'm just baking cookies right now, so I can't text you without long intervals between my replies. I figured calling would be more efficient_."

"Ooh, what kind of cookies?"

" _Peanut butter,_ " Lexa answered. " _Aden, stop eating the batter. Go wash your hands_."

"Did you recruit your brother?" Clarke teased, grabbing an old UPenn shirt to wear. 

" _He can't boil water to save his life, so this is more like a masterclass for him_ ," Lexa told her. " _Do you like peanut butter cookies?_ " 

"I do, but Raven has this huge allergy to peanuts, and if she comes in contact with it, we basically have to quarantine the entire apartment."

" _Does she carry around an epi-pen?_ " 

"Three, actually, and Octavia and I have two each just in case."

" _Is her allergy that bad?_ " 

"Yep," Clarke answered, grabbing a her ear buds from her bag. "Hold on a sec. I'm going to put my ear buds in." Clarke quickly connected the cord and slipped the ear buds into her ear. "Okay, I'm good."

" _Cool. I was about to say that it was a bummer. Is anyone other than Raven with an allergy that severe?_ " 

"I mean, O is lactose intolerant, but she consumes ice cream like water anyway, which is hell on earth for Rae and I later on." 

" _Okay. I'm planning on making other cookies, so I wanted to see if you had a favorite in mind_."

Clarke smiled as she stepped out of her room. "Aw, thanks. That's really sweet. You don't need to do that."

" _I want to,_ " Lexa shyly admitted. Clarke smiled, then raised her brows when she heard a loud smack from Lexa's end. " _Aden_!" 

" _Ow_!" Clarke assumed to be Aden yelped. " _You hit like a dude!_ " 

" _I gave you a warning. Go wash up. My hands are covered in batter and I need you to open the pot lid for me._ "

There was more indistinct muttering from Aden, but Clarke couldn't make any of it out. 

" _I can hear you, you know_ ," Lexa told him as the sound of running water could be heard. 

"Is he okay?" Clarke asked, not sure whether to be concerned for the teenager, or laugh at Lexa's protective attitude over her cookies. 

"H _e'll be fine. He's like a starfish. He heals quickly_."

" _Says the raccoon_!" Aden yelled. 

" _Just open the lid,_ " Lexa said, and Clarke could imagine her rolling her eyes. 

"Raccoon?" Clarke smiled in amusement, arriving in the kitchen to do the prep work for the stir fry she was cooking. 

" _Long story_ ," Lexa told her. 

"Damn, you really are overprotective of your baked treats."

" _I live with two vacuum cleaners. I need to protect my stuff before it gets sucked into that bottomless pit they call a stomach_ ," Lexa said. " _Just give me a second. I need to taste my soup._ "

"Take your time," Clarke told her, moving to grab the bar of rice from the pantry. She measured what would be enough for the three of them, and likely leftovers for tomorrow's lunch, and dumped it into the rice cooler. It wasn't until she added water and started the machine that Lexa came back to the conversation. 

" _Sorry about that_." 

"It's fine. I'm making stir fry on my end," Clarke told her as she pulled out frozen vegetables from the freezer. "Speaking of Asian food, we're going to that sushi place for Wednesday, right?" 

" _Yes, I made the reservations today for noon on Wednesday, so we're all good to go_."

"Do you want me to pick you up Wednesday, or are you driving yourself there? You carpool with Anya, right?" 

" _Yeah, but I can just get a cab. It's not a big deal._ "

"Lexa, please, that's dumb," Clarke told her. "My apartment is down the street from your office. It's not a big deal, and I have Wednesday off anyway, so it's not going to be an inconvenience. We're going to end up at the same place, anyway."

Lexa sighed from the other end of the line. 

"Come on," Clarke urged. "You know you want to."

Lexa chuckled. " _If I didn't know for sure what were talking about, I would've for sure thought you were trying to get me to smoke a joint_."

Clarke guffawed. "Wow, where did that come from? That was totally left field."

The door to the apartment opened, and in walked Raven, sweating and panting lightly from her run. 

"Just a sec. One of my roommates just walked in," Clarke told Lexa. "Hey, Rae. Stir fry for dinner."

The brunette took her ear buds out and nodded her head. "Okay. I'm going to go take a shower. How long do I have?"

"I'm mostly just waiting for the rice,and I'll cook the air fry in about ten minutes, so about twenty minutes till everything is done. Just call O when you're done and dinner should be ready by the time you two get here."

Raven clenched her jaw, but nodded in understanding as she took her shoes off. Clarke waited until Raven tossed her smelly shoes out onto the balcony and retreating into her room before taking to Lexa again.

"Sorry about that. Was that the timer for the cookies?" 

" _Yeah, I just took them out,_ " Lexa confirmed. " _I know this phone call is kind of short, but we're both making dinner right now, and I don't want you to get distracted and burn yourself. Talk to you later?_ " 

"Sure. If not calling, then I'll definitely text you."

" _Count on it. Bye, Clarke._ "

"Bye, Lexa."

Clarke took out her phone and ended the call, standing there for several moments after biting her lip. 


	6. Chapter 6

"Hey, mom," Clarke said, checking her mirrors before she switched lanes to take the exit to the airport. 

" _Hi, honey_ ," Abby said. " _How are you? I'm sorry that I missed you yesterday at the hospital_."

"I'm good. I was in the ER most of yesterday, but it wasn't as bad as usual. How's your cold?" 

" _Better. I think that I'll be out of quarantine tomorrow, so I'll see you when you head in on Thursday_."

"Did you eat from that soup I dropped off last week?" 

" _Your dad made sure there wasn't a single drop left_ ," Abby promised. " _What are you up to today?_ " 

"I sent over that research proposal this morning, and I've just been reading case studies since then to get my mind off of it. I'm heading to the airport to pick up Bellamy right now, actually. How's dad, by the way?" 

" _He spilled a box of your old Lego set when he was trying to look for something in the attic, so it was him cursing for a good fifteen minutes as he stepped on them and cradled his feet,_ " Abby told her, and Clarke could imagine her mother rolling her eyes. " _How is Bellamy? You're all still coming to dinner on Wednesday, right?_ " 

"Yeah, if you're up for it. And why do you guys still have those? Just sell them on Craigslist or donate them. They're gathering dust in the attic."

" _Your father is convinced that they will be worth a fortune in twenty years. And we're making chicken pot pie Wednesday._ "

"And by we, you mean dad. Tell him those Legos can be someone else's fortune. No one in the family is in a monetary crisis."

" _You know I'm too busy to learn how to cook. I've got a whole hospital to manage_."

Clarke laughed. "Mom, I'm sorry, but that is the weakest excuse ever. I'm pulling more hours than you are and I still manage to cook at least once a weak."

" _I'll catch up when I retire._ "

Clarke rolled her eyes. "Right, because that's definitely in the near future."

" _It is_ ," Abby insisted. " _Your father and I are in our mid-fifties with no debt and we've paid off our mortgage. We've got plenty of savings in the bank, and the hospital is too stressful to work in at my age. Your father and I have always wanted to visit Indonesia_."

"Are you serious?" 

" _Of course. I'm looking for someone to take over when I retire a year or two from now_."

"Wow, and dad?"

" _His contract ends in a few months. He was thinking of wrapping up things at work before retiring in the spring. He's always talking about how the backyard needs new landscaping, so that should hold him off for a few months while I tie it up at work_."

"Have you told anyone? The board, I mean."

" _We'll be discussing it on Thursday. I wanted to tell you first before I talked to them. I was actually going to tell you tomorrow night at dinner._ "

"I'm happy for you guys. You can just enjoy the rest of your lives now. You deserve the rest."

" _Maybe we'll swing by more at your place_."

"Let's not get ahead of ourselves, there, mother." Clarke's phone beeped, and she glanced to see that it was an incoming call from Bellamy. "Hey, mom, I hate to go, but Bellamy's calling me and I'm nearing the arrivals."

" _Don't worry about it. I'll see you all tomorrow night. Tell Bellamy and the girls I said hi._ "

"I will. Love you."

" _Love you, too, honey. Bye_."

Clarke hung up the phone and immediately answered Bellamy's call. "Hey, sorry about the long wait. My mom was on the other line."

" _Don't worry about it. Are you here yet_?" 

"Yeah, I just pulled in. Remind me which airline?" 

" _Emirates. I have a baseball hat on and I'm wearing yellow shirt_."

"How much more inconspicuous can you be?" Clarke deadpanned, slowing down when she spotted him. "I see you. I'm pulling up right now."

Clarke hung up the phone and pulled in almost directly in front of Bellamy, then turned on her hazard lights before unbuckling her seat belt and exiting the car. She rounded the back to open up the trunk and immediately hugged Bellamy when he approached her. 

"I missed you so much! Did you get tanner?" 

"Don't be fooled. It's just starting to get a little but warmer but barely," Bellamy told her, returning her hug. "It's winter down there."

"Oh, that's right," Clarke said with a click of her tongue, pulling away from the hug to grab Bellamy's carry-on. "My mom says hi, by the way."

"It's fine. I can get my bag," Bellamy told her, but he evidently lost the argument when Clarke slipped his hands away and put the carry-on in the trunk, closing it before Bellamy had the opportunity to do anything. 

"Don't be ridiculous. You just came back from a twenty hour flight," Clarke told him, separating from him to get back in the car. She waited for Bellamy to get in and buckle his seat belt before turning off the hazard lights and get back on the road. "How was Australia? Nice kangaroo attempt, by the way."

"The trainer promised me he was friendly, but he didn't think that I would take that as a signal to ride the stupid thing," Bellamy muttered. "Other than that, it's been going pretty well. They live a really healthy lifestyle down there, but the some of the language confuses me."

"Anywhere is healthier than America, trust me," Clarke said. "What words confuse you?" 

"You're half-Australian, so nothing gets by you, but down there, they don't say flip flops. They say thongs."

Clarke chuckled. "Is there a funny story there?" 

"I wouldn't be me if there wasn't," Bellamy said. "So, the accent coach they hired for me is a native, and my first full day there, we decided to check out the indoor pool of the hotel that I was in. He was rooming with me because he lived across the country, and he was getting ready and asks me if I've seen his thongs."

Clarke started cracking up, already knowing where this conversation was headed. "I can just imagine your face."

"Right? Anyway, I freeze in my spot, and I'm like, 'uh, what?' It slipped his mind that I new literally no Australian slang, so he keeps looking for them. He wasn't paying attention to my face or my tone of voice, so he goes, 'my thongs, my black thongs. I was wearing them last night, but I can't find them.' I sit there horrified, until he pulls them out and only then does he notice the look on my face and cracks up when he realizes what happened. I had to wait for him to stop laughing so that he could explain to me that no, he wasn't a drag queen."

"Sounds like fun," Clarke said. "How was your flight?" 

"Oh, my God. You have no idea how much I love flying Emirates. I slept most of the flight. It was blissful. We made a short stop in Dubai and I left the airport for a few hours to explore and kill time during my layover."

"You liked it?" 

"Yeah. I mean, I couldn't do much, seeing I wasn't there very long, but it was cool. It's really hot there, though."

"Nice. I'm looking to take a vacation after my boards and before I start my research, if I pass and get approved, of course."

"Stop it. You're brilliant. You'll kick those exams into next week, and they'd be stupid not to approve your research."

Clarke smiled. "Thanks, Bell."

"Anytime. You got the hotel information I sent you, right?" 

"Yeah, it's right across the mall and if you wanted, you could take the metro one stop over and walk for a few minutes to reach our apartment. It's, like, five minutes by car from our place, though."

"Nice. When does O get off work again?" 

Clarke glanced at the time displayed on the screen in her car. "A few hours. She's usually home by five-thirty at the latest. That gives us enough time to get your checked in and you can take a shower and sit before we go surprise her."

"Awesome."

 

 

 

"I'm really glad we had this talk, Lexa. I really am looking forward to this partnership," her companion said as the two of them stood shaking hands. 

"Thank you. I'm very excited about this as well. I'll have my lawyers draft a contract and send it over. We can discuss the details in a meeting not too far in the future," Lexa said with a smile, finally letting go of his hand.

"I look forward to it. I have to get going to the airport, but we'll keep in touch," he promised, then shook Lexa's hand one last time before leaving the restaurant. 

Lexa waived down the waiter and pulled out her wallet, handing him a two hundred dollar tip, on top of the one than her companion likely left after paying the bill. Lexa briefly smiled at him, then made her way down the hall to the elevators. She stepped into one with a few other occupants, and pulled out her phone to call a cab, only to see that there was no service in the elevator. She pocketed her phone and decided to wait until she reached the lobby. 

Stepping out of the elevator, Lexa took out her phone and walked towards the sitting area, ready to dial the cab company, when she froze in her tracks. 

There was Clarke, sitting on one of the armchairs by the windows, scrolling aimlessly through her phone. Lexa glanced at the time, figuring that it wouldn't harm anyone if she delayed her arrival by a few more minutes. She pocketed her phone, then walked over to the armchair, placing a gentle hand on the blonde's shoulder. 

Clarke jumped in her spot and dropped her phone on the carpeted floor, sighing in relief when she realized who it was. "God. You almost gave me a heart attack." 

Lexa smiled at the blonde. It's only been two days since she's last seen her and less than one since she last heard her voice, but man did she miss her. "Hello to you, too."

Clarke stood up and pulled Lexa in for a hug, which the brunette eagerly reciprocated, along with a kiss on the cheek. 

"Hi. Aren't you supposed to be at work?" the blonde asked, pulling away from the brunette. 

"I had a meeting during lunch at the restaurant in the hotel," Lexa told her, reaching down to pick up Clarke's phone and hand it to her. 

"Oh, that's right. You told me about that," Clarke said, taking her phone from Lexa with a smile. "Thanks. How'd the meeting go?" 

"It went well. It's with a non-profit that I've been looking to work with for a long time, and we'll be going over contracts within the next few weeks," Lexa told her, grabbing Clarke's hand to guide the two of them to the couch. "How's your day been? And why are you in a hotel of all places? Your apartment is down the road."

Clarke chuckled. "It's been good. I picked up Octavia's brother from the airport earlier, and I'm just waiting for him to finish getting ready so that we can get a light lunch and then surprise his sister. It's actually a good thing we didn't schedule our date at all today. I didn't realize that I'd be occupied for most of it."

"You might as well sync your calendar with mine," Lexa joked, placing her elbow on the back of the couch so that she could lean her chin in her palm. "Octavia's birthday is today, right?" 

"Yeah, we're going out to dinner and then the 9:30 Club in DC for a concert. Her brother flew in from Australia to surprise her."

"That's sweet. How long is he staying?" 

"About a week. We have to drive him to the airport Monday night."

"And when do you go back to work?" 

"Thursday, and I don't get out until early Sunday morning, which sucks, because I don't get to hang out with him that much. He's going to be in Australia for a few more months, then he flies back and stays for a month or so here, and then I think he flies to Chicago for a week to see his mom and goes back to LA after that."

Lexa furrowed her brows. "What exactly does he do for a living?"

"Clarke," Lexa heard, and the two of them turned to see whom Lexa assumed to be Octavia's brother, a grown man who appeared to be about as old as Anya. His dark curls were hidden underneath a baseball cap, and wore a simple white t-shirt to accompany his jeans and sneakers. His face was oddly familiar. 

"Hey, Bell," Clarke greeted with a smile. "You ready?" 

"Yeah, I'm all set," he told her, then trailed his eyes to Lexa. "Who's your friend?" 

"Oh, Lexa, this is Octavia's brother, Bellamy Blake." 

"The actor," Lexa said, standing up to shake Bellamy's hand as the pieces finally clicked into place. "My brother is a huge fan of your work."

"Tell him that I said thanks for the support," Bellamy smiled, shaking Lexa's hand.

"I'm Alexandria Woods," Lexa introduced. "I prefer going by Lexa, though."

"My sister has a total business crush on you," Bellamy told her shamelessly, to which Lexa chuckled as they let go of each other's hands.

"I noticed."

"You've met her?"

"Not formally, no," Lexa said, exchanging a knowing glance with Clarke. "We've been emailing back and forth. I wanted her to come in for an interview to lead my next project."

"You've got her in the bag, without a doubt," Bellamy joked, taking a seat on the chair across from the couch that Clarke and Lexa occupied. "Does she know that you guys know each other?"

"No, and please don't tell her that you do," Clarke said.

Bellamy furrowed his brows. "Why?"

"Well, first, I want to get her back for that dumb prank she pulled on me on April Fools," Clarke started, scratching the back of her neck as Lexa sat down next to the blonde. Bellamy observed their proximity to one another, and he could tell right away that it was more intimate than friendly. "Second, well, I just don't want her to jump to conclusions."

"What kind of conclusions?"

Clarke glanced nervously at Lexa, who was giving her a smile of encouragement. When Clarke nudged the brunette, Lexa spoke for her. "Clarke and I are dating, and she just doesn't want your sister to think she's getting the job because I'm going out with her best friend. And to be fair, I did offer Clarke my business card to give to Octavia before we went on our first date."

Bellamy pursed his lips. "I think it would be better if you tell her and explain it to her like that, but if you guys want to keep it quiet, then my lips are sealed."

"Thanks, Bell," Clarke said with an appreciative smile. 

Lexa's phone buzzed, and she pulled it out to see a message from her assistant. "Sorry, guys. I've got to run. I have a meeting in twenty minutes."

"Want me to drop you off?" Clarke asked.

"I was going to call a cab, but if you're not too busy, then that would be great," Lexa told her, firing off a quick reply to her assistant that she would be there shortly.

"It's not a problem. I'm going to pick you up tomorrow anyway, so it's better to know where I'll be driving," Clarke said, patting the brunette's knew twice before standing up. "I had them valet the car, so I'm going to show them the ticket. Do you guys want to stay here and wait, or wait outside?"

"Might as well go with you," Bellamy said as he and Lexa both stood up. "Saves us a little bit of time."

The three of them walked outside, and after showing the valet her ticket, Clarke's car was delivered not a moment to soon. Bellamy opted to take the backseat, leaving Lexa to shotgun next to Clarke. They chatted in the car, mostly about Bellamy's misadventures in Australia, with Lexa learning that Clarke's dad hailed from the Land Down Under until they reached Lexa's office. After dropping her off, Bellamy took over shotgun and Clarke drove the two of them over to Silver Diner, where they ordered milkshakes and split an appetizer to snack on before heading back to Clarke's apartment. 

"So, where, should I hide?" Bellamy asked once the two of them stepped into the apartment and slipped their shoes off. "I was thinking that I'd casually lay on her bed and have her freak out or something."

"If you want to make her think you're a burglar when she sees your hairy legs, then sure," Clarke sarcastically told him, leading him into the living room after locking the deadbolt. "I was thinking something else. There's a deadbolt here, so nobody can open it from the outside. O knows that I'm home, so I'll just have Raven and I film the whole thing from both sides. Raven can delay coming home by pretending she had something to do at work, and I'll film it from inside. You'll open the door and O will freak out. Simple."

"Yeah, but I could just be casually lying on her bed like we were at mom's house twenty years ago."

"Her door situation is weird, so as soon as she sees your hairy legs, she's probably going to throw something at you in hopes of knocking you out," Clarke told him, grabbing the remote to switch to open up Netflix. "Plus, my way is cuter and makes a great Instagram post. Your fan engagement will skyrocket."

"If you weren't a doctor, I would've hired you as my publicist. Just saying."

"If I end up having a mid-life crisis and switch careers, I'll take you up on that."

"I got your back, C," Bellamy winked. "And what is it with you and my hairy legs?"

"They're fucking hairy as hell," Clarke told him. "I found this cool documentary a while back, and you're watching it with me."

They only got through about half the documentary before they heard Raven and Octavia's voiced echoing in the hallway. Clarke gave Bellamy the okay to open the door, and when he did, Octavia's eyes widened before she dropped her bags and clung to her brother with a huge hug. 

"Oh, my God, I missed you!" Octavia squealed, as Bellamy grabbed ahold of his sister and stepped out into the hallway to spin her around.

Raven and Clarke laughed as they both ended the recording, watching the Blake siblings' reunion. There was nothing more heartwarming than watching the two of them reunite, because there was simply no other brother-sister relationship like theirs. 

"When did you get here?" Octavia asked once they pulled away.

"I just landed at noon. Clarke picked me up from the airport," Bellamy told her. 

Octavia turned to her two best friends and pulled them into a giant group hug. "This is the best birthday surprise ever, you guys!"

"Happy birthday, O," Clarke laughed, giving the younger girl a kiss on the cheek. 

"Welcome to your thirties, grandma," Raven said, squeezing her best friend. Sure, they were in the middle of a pretty big fight, but Raven wasn't petty enough to let it get in the way of Octavia's birthday. "It only gets worse from here."

"How positive of you," Bellamy deadpanned.

"Hey, we can't lie to the poor kid," Raven said, pulling back from the hug. "We've got reservations, so we need to change and shower real quick."

"Yes," Octavia cheered, then froze when she realized what she dropped with her bags. "Fuck, my laptop!"

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Shorter than usual, but I wanted to make up for the weeks of radio silence. I will be updating my other fics soon, and I want most of them to be up to speed chapter-wise to Move Along before I update that story, so for those of you waiting on those, I'll try to be as quick as I can!
> 
> Comment what you thought, and if there are any betas out there, please reach out. 
> 
> All mistakes in this chapter are mine.


	7. Chapter 7

"Whose fucking idea was it that I take those last four shots?" Octavia groaned, pushing her sunglasses further up her nose, which was a bizarre sight for sitting indoors. 

"Yours," Bellamy chuckled, replying to a few work emails on his phone. "No one got as trashed as you did. I had three beers and Clarke stopped drinking an an hour before the concert was over. Raven was DD, so she obviously wasn't going to drink."

"You guys suck," Octavia groaned, burying her face in pillow on her brother's lap. "The point of getting trashed is that you do it with other people." 

"Welcome to adulthood," Clarke said, setting down a tray of crepes and a few bottles of water. "Forget about comrades. You're all alone in USA Corp."

"You're so positive," Bellamy deadpanned, locking his phone to nudge his sister. "Time for breakfast. Clarke made crepes."

Octavia lifted her head and took her plate from Clarke, reaching over to grab a bottle  of water. "At least I don't have to work today."

When Octavia saw Clarke sit down with nothing but a small bowl of strawberries, she raised a brow, even though that sent a throbbing pain through her head. "Why aren't you eating?" 

"I'm going out to lunch," Clarke told her, avoiding Octavia's eyes. 

"With who?" Octavia asked suspiciously. "Is it that chick from the mall again?" 

"Chick from the mall?" Bellamy asked curiously. 

Clarke shot him a look. "She's the same person."

Octavia's eyes widened as she turned to her brother. "Wait, you met her?" 

"It was a coincidence. Clarke ran into her yesterday," Bellamy said, raising his hands in mock defense.  

"On a scale of one to ten, how hot is she?" Octavia asked her brother. 

Bellamy glanced at Clarke, but Octavia grabbed his face and turned his head to face her directly. "No. No taking orders from Clarke. Just say your honest opinion. Clarke's not going to bite your head off."

Bellamy hesitated, then answered his sister's question. "Twelve."

Octavia dropped her hands and gaped at Clarke. "Fuck, Griff. Where'd you find this woman?" 

"The mall," Clarke answered, ignoring Octavia's look. 

"What's her name?"

"Not telling you that," Clarke said, popping another strawberry in her mouth. "I learned my lesson after you Facebook stalked that psych major I was dating in college."

"Learn to share, sister. I need to live vicariously through someone, and currently, you're the only one out of the three of us who's getting any. Raven is on the hunt for a victim, but she hasn't gotten anywhere."

"Okay, gross. Do I really have to listen to this?" Bellamy asked, scrunching his nose in distaste. 

"No, because I'm going to go on my lunch date," Clarke said, standing up with her empty bowl. "Don't forget we're going to my parents' house for dinner tonight, so you better be over your hangover by then."

"Oh, shit. That's tonight?" Octavia cursed. 

"Yep. See you later!" Clarke told them, placing her bowl in the tray before grabbing her things and exiting the apartment. 

 

 

 

"You've got another lunch meeting?" Lincoln asked as he ran into Lexa, who was on her way to the elevator. 

"No, I've got a lunch date," Lexa told him. Pressing the button once she arrived to the elevators. "You?" 

"I've got to head down to marketing. My computer is fried, and IT is busy replacing it with a temp right now, so I need a hard copy of the rebranding draft marketing want to do for that baby apparel store that we just bought," Lincoln said, stepping into the elevator with Lexa once it arrived Lexa pressed the seventh floor for Lincoln and the lobby for herself. "Is it with Clarke?" 

"Yeah. We're going to Tachibana for lunch."

"Nice. Have you figured out her last name yet?" 

Lexa scowled, punching Lincoln weakly. "Shut up."

"Oh, my God. You seriously haven't asked her yet? Anya's going to have a field day."

"I'll figure it out by the time I get back. And don't tell her, you traitor."

"I'm her brother."

"Yeah, well, I sign your paycheck."

"Cheap move."

"Welcome to America," Lexa told him, just as the elevator door opened to the seventh floor. "See you later."

"Have fun on your date," Lincoln told her, stepping out to go do his business. 

Lexa closed the elevator after him and made her way to the lobby, and made her way quickly to the security desk by the door. 

"Hey, Gus," Lexa greeted as she approached the burly security guard. "You still have those flowers for me?"

"Hello, Ms. Woods," Gus greeted her back with a smile. He reached down under the desk and pulled out a bouquet of lavender roses. "Here you go."

"Thank you," Lexa said, taking the bouquet from him. 

"What time should I expect you back?"

"Around two o'clock, maximum would be two-thirty," Lexa informed him.

Gus nodded once. "Enjoy your lunch, miss."

"Thank you," Lexa smiled, then made her way out of the building, walking the short distance to where Clarke's car was idle in the roundabout in front of the building. Lexa knocked on the window twice, then watched Clarke look up from her phone and smile at Lexa before unlocking the doors. Lexa climbed in the car and took her seat, then closed the door before leaning across the armrest to give Clarke a hug. As she pulled away, Clarke gently grabbed Lexa's face and pulled her in for a quick kiss. 

"Hi," Clarke greeted, biting her lower lip to avoid grinning wider than it already was. 

"Hi," Lexa said with a smile, handing Clarke the bouquet of lavender roses. "These are for you."

"These are lovely," Clarke said, taking the bouquet to smell the roses. "Thank you, Lexa."

"Of course," Lexa said. 

"Oh, before I forget," Clarke said, opening the armrest to take out a pair of sunglasses and hand them to Lexa. "You left these in the car yesterday."

"I've been looking for those," Lexa said, but her tone of voice made Clarke believe otherwise. 

"You totally left it on purpose," Clarke accused, giving Lexa the bouquet back so that she could drive. 

"Yeah, I did," Lexa admitted with a laugh. She put on the sunglasses and buckled in her seatbelt as Clarke drove towards the restaurant. "How was Octavia's birthday yesterday?"

"It was fun. She was overjoyed when she saw Bellamy. Raven and I filmed their reunion and it was really cute," Clarke told her. She stopped at a red light and unlocked her phone to show Lexa the videos, handing her the phone so that she could focus on driving. "The first one is from my side, which is inside out apartment, and the other side is from Raven's point of view."

Lexa watched the two short videos, both not exceeding a minute combined. When she finished, she locked Clarke's phone and held onto it for the blonde. "That's really cute."

"Yeah, I always love watching them reunite. They're as thick as thieves," Clarke said, pressing on the accelerator once the light turned green. "How's your day been so far?"

"Not bad. There's just some work that I'm probably end up taking home today. I've had a lot of meetings the past two days, so I've got to catch up on paperwork and stuff."

"Are you sure you're not busy enough to go out for lunch? We can always reschedule if you're going to be swamped at work."

"No, no, I'm fine. Don't worry about it," Lexa reassured her. "This happens every once in a while. It's a normal occurrence."

"Okay, if you're sure."

Lexa smiled at Clarke. "I'm sure."

"So, you know how I told you that I go into work tomorrow and I don't get out till Sunday?"

"Yeah."

"Well, I'm going to be pulling long shifts, so if you try and call or text me, and I don't respond the same day or even the next day, don't take it personally. I'm usually stuck in surgeries all day and I get really tired, so if it's not anything related to the hospital and it's not life-threatening, I usually ignore it until I have a good half hour or so to really sit down and reply."

"That's understandable. Thank you for letting me know, though."

"i just didn't want you to think that I was ignoring you or anything," Clarke said. "You're the only one that manages to drag me out of the house twice in one week."

"Using me for my choices in food. I see how it is," Lexa said, emitting a laugh from Clarke. 

"What can I say? You have phenomenal taste buds."

"That I do," Lexa said, then paused. "Hey, can I ask you something?"

"Sure."

"What's your last name?" Lexa asked. "I mean, you know mine, but I keep forgetting to ask you for yours, which should be the first thing that I learned about you."

"Why? So, you can Facebook stalk me later?" Clarke joked. 

"I'd have to borrow Anya's since I don't have one, but maybe. You never know," Lexa grinned. 

"It's Griffin. And do you seriously not have a Facebook?"

"Seriously. I have a twitter that I use mostly for promotions for the companies I buy or invest in, or to share articles I think are interesting, and an Instagram that I barely use, but no Facebook. I'm not into social media very much. It makes me feel very superficial and it creeps me out when people can just stalk your social media to find out information about you."

"You're such a hipster," Clarke chuckled, which ticked Lexa off just a _tiny_ bit.

"I am _not_ a hipster. I hate it whenever somebody calls me that."

"That's an insult to hipsters. What did they ever do to you?"

"That's a conversation for another time. It ties into my intolerance of labels as a whole."

Clarke grinned and flicked her eyes to Lexa, who was trying not to get riled up. "You're such a nerd."

 

 

 

"How's your hangover?" Bellamy asked his sister. It was the middle of the day, and they decided to stop by Silver Diner to grab milkshakes before making their way to the National Harbor. 

"Hurts like a bitch," Octavia muttered, pulling the baseball cap lower to avoid the sun's rays hitting her eyes, even though she was wearing sunglasses to compliment the hot, summer day. "I so regret those last few shots. I can't even remember how the concert ended."

"A fan threw up on a security guard and somebody threw a pair of socks and hit the drummer in the eye. No big deal."

"Damn, I always miss the good stuff."

They continued walking with silence enveloping them. They were silent until they reached the dock and took a seat.

"You want to tell me why you're fighting with Raven?" Bellamy asked, sipping his milkshake as he watched his sister's mood drastically change. "You and I both know you're bullshitting your side of the argument, so what's wrong?"

Octavia pursed her lips, leaving the Blakes in momentary silence. "Hilton's not paying me enough."

Bellamy furrowed his brows. "What?"

"The salary they're giving me is being sucked out of my bank account from all the bills I have to pay, which is why I wanted to move from the Tysons area. They're gentrifying the area and it's turning into another New York City. On top of bills, I still have to pay back all my loans from school."

"That's what this is about?" Bellamy scoffed. "You two have been fighting for two months because of money?"

Octavia clenched her jaw. "It's not like you would get it, Bell. You're making millions off of every movie you make."

"Yeah, but it's not like I'm actively trying to keep it to myself," Bellamy told her. "I _told_ you to let me help you out. I have more money than I know what to do with. At least let me pay off your loans. Or better yet, I'll pay for the entire apartment every month, so none of you have to pay for rent."

"I don't want you to pay for everything Bellamy."

"At least let me send you money to help you out!" Bellamy hissed. "Why'd you take this job in the first place if you knew that salary wasn't going to help you with the cost of living in the area?"

"Because I need their name on my resume. It's a contract job, so I have to get big names so that clients come rolling in."

"They're taking advantage of you!"

"I know, and I feel like an idiot! I know that already," Octavia nearly shouted. Silence passed over them, with nothing but the sounds of their panting and birds flying overhead. "I'm scared, Bell. I don't want to drown in debt. I'm so stressed out at work. My boss is a dick who dumps all of his work on me and can fire me without a second glance and it just fucking sucks right now." 

"Please," Bellamy begged. "Let me help you."

 

 

 

Clarke's phone ringing interrupted their conversation, and the blonde smiled sheepishly at Lexa before glancing at the caller ID. It was Bellamy. "Uh, do you mind if I take this? It's Bellamy."

"Not at all," Lexa told her.

Clarke answered the call and pressed the phone to her ear. "Hello?"

" _Hey, Clarke. Are you still with Lexa?_ "

"Yeah," Clarke told him, raising a brow at Lexa, who realized that she was the topic of their conversation. 

" _Can you put me on speaker? I need to ask her something really quickly before O gets back from the bathroom._ "

"Sure, one sec." Clarke pulled the phone away from her ear and put it on speaker. "You're on speaker now."

"Thanks. Hi, Lexa."

"Hello, Bellamy."

" _I just need you to answer a really quick question. How much would the average salary be for a person of my sister's qualifications?_ "

Lexa looked taken aback by the question, and when she looked at Clarke, the blonde shrugged, clearly as confused as she was. "Well, if I had her as a full-time employee, I imagine it wouldn't be anything less than a hundred grand or so. There's a lot of factors that go into it, but that doesn't include bonuses or anything."

" _Okay_ ," Bellamy said, then paused. " _I want to ask a small favor of you_."

"Depends on what it is," Lexa said cautiously. 

" _I think that whoever is bossing my sister around at her job is taking advantage of her. If I can get you a copy of her contract, do you think your lawyers can look over it?_ "

"Bellamy—" Clarke started to scold him, but was cut off by Lexa.

"Sure. Not a problem. If you can drop it off with my security in the lobby, I'll take care of it."

" _Thank you,_ " Bellamy said sincerely. " _I have to go. She's coming back. Sorry for interrupting your date!_ "

Bellamy hung up quickly, and Clarke sighed as she locked her phone. "I'm so sorry about that. I don't know what he was thinking. That was totally inappropriate."

"If this means that I can steal her sooner, then by all means, I would be more than willing to help," Lexa said. 

"You already set up an interview?"

"I sent her an email yesterday afternoon. Her interview is Tuesday, but it's more than likely that I'll end up hiring her," Lexa told her. "Do you want to tell her after the interview?"

"They know that I'm going out with someone, but they don't know that it's you," Clarke said. "Do you want to meet them?"

"Are you going to tell them before hand?"

"Nah, it'll be fun to watch Octavia squirm," Clarke said with a grin. "How's your brother?"

"He's good. I told him to enjoy his last few weeks of summer before college slaps him in the face. He's been out and about exploring Georgetown and going to a few museums. I think he's burning a hole in his wallet from all the restaurants he's trying, though. He's probably going to look for a job soon."

"Are you going to set him up with an internship or something at your office?"

Lexa shook her head. "He's uncomfortable with my wealth as it is, and I don't think he'd enjoy working in the corporate world."

"Did he pick a degree at Georgetown?"

"No, he's still undecided. It'll be interesting to see what he picks, though."

Silence fell over them, the two of them sitting in Clarke's car, parked in Woods Financial's parking lot. Clarke's car was off and the windows were down. It had become a bit cooler with the clouds blocking out the sun and a nice breeze sweeping the area. Clarke's sunglasses were sitting in a cup holder, while Lexa's were hanging neatly from the breast pocket of her blazer. The car's visors were down to block down whatever sunlight would escape and strike them.

"I really like our dates," Clarke said, glancing at Lexa to see the brunette smiling at her. 

"Me, too," Lexa said, pulling their intertwined hands to kiss the back of Clarke's hand. "Want to go on another one?"

"Depends," Clarke said. "Am I going to be fed?"

"I'll cook for you myself," Lexa said.

"Wait, seriously?"

"Yeah," Lexa said. "We can cook together or you can just sit there and look pretty while I cook for the two of us at my place."

"What about Aden, Anya, and Lincoln?"

"Next week, Anya's going to be in Tokyo, Lincoln in London, and I can tell Aden to get lost for a few hours."

"No, don't kick your brother out. That's mean," Clarke pouted. "Invite him to eat with us."

"He's a big boy. He can handle being alone for a while," Lexa joked, though her heart did flutter at Clarke's inclusion of Aden. "Are you sure though?"

"Yeah. I'll have someone on my side to agree on how much of a nerd you are," Clarke said, biting her lip.

"You think you're _so_ funny," Lexa said, reaching across the armrest to kiss Clarke. 

"You love my humor," Clarke whispered against Lexa's lips before they locked lips. They kissed for a few moments before Lexa broke away.

"Before I forget, I got you something, but I left it in my office," Lexa said. "Want to come up?"

"I'm not exactly dressed for the office, Lex," Clarke said, gesturing to her jeans and Fleetwood Mac's tour t-shirt from 1977, which she may or may not have stolen from the attic the last time she was at her parents' house. 

"You look great," Lexa promised, leaning back to her seat. "We're going straight up to my floor. Everybody should be back from lunch now, anyway."

"You're not taking no for an answer, are you?" Clarke sighed, letting go of Lexa's hand to take the keys out of the ignition. "Alright, come on. Let's go."

The two of them exited Clarke's car, and after locking it, the blonde followed Lexa into the building, where she received a visitor's pass from the security guard named Gus. The two of them rode the elevator up to the top, where Lexa's office was situated, and true to her word, no one saw them, other than Gus, as they made their way to Lexa's office. The executive floor was nearly a ghost town because it only held the offices of the C-level employees in the company. 

"What did I tell you?" Lexa smirked, closing her office door behind them. 

"Don't gloat," Clarke told her, crossing her arms as she walked towards the windows to inspect the view of the McLean/Tysons area. "Wow, there's so much more construction than I realized. Other than that, the view's great."

"I know. I love it up here," Lexa said, and Clarke turned around to find her pulling out a tupperware to hand to Clarke. "This is what I wanted to give you."

"What is it?" Clarke asked, taking the container to reveal cookies. "Cookies?"

"Yeah. I made a new batch yesterday and made sure that peanuts didn't come in contact with any of it so that Raven could eat some, too," Lexa said. 

Clarke laughed and closed the container, and after placing it on Lexa's desk, she wrapped her arms around the CEO's waist, bringing their foreheads together. "You are too sweet."

Lexa grinned and pressed her lips to Clarke's, pushing the blonde back so that she sat on Lexa's desk. Clarke pulled Lexa closer by the lapels of her blazer and opened her legs wide for Lexa to step in closer. 

"You're supposed to be working," Clarke muttered in between kisses. 

"Five more minutes," Lexa bargained, entangling her fingers in Clarke's hair as she pushed the blonde's head closer. 

The door to the office suddenly opened. "Lexa, I need-- whoa, didn't expect to see this."

Annoyed, Lexa reluctantly pulled away from Clarke to glare at her CFO. "What do you want, Anya?" 

"I was going to ask you to authorize something, but this is way more interesting than contracts," Anya grinned, leaning against the doorframe. "Who's your lady friend? 

Lexa sighed and stepped back, allowing Clarke to climb down from the desk. When the blonde turned around, Anya froze in shock. 

"Hi, I'm Clarke," the blonde said moving across the room with her hand outstretched to introduce herself, despite their previous introduction. "You must be Lexa's friend, Anya. It's nice to meet you."

"Uh, yeah," was all that came out of Anna's mouth. She prayed to whatever deity was out there that the surgeon wouldn't tell Lexa of their previous acquaintance. "You, too."

"What did you need me to sign?" Lexa asked, momentarily kicking Anya back into action. 

"There's that contract on my desk for increasing Brian's capital to fill orders," Anya told her, dropping Clarke's hand. 

Lexa rolled her eyes, but made her way towards the door regardless. She paused by Clarke, squeezing the blonde's arm in reassurance. "I'll be right back. Five minutes, ten tops."

"Okay," Clarke said, sending her off with a smile. 

When Lexa was out of earshot, Anya pushed the two of them further into Lexa's office and shut the door behind them. "Please tell me you didn't tell her."

"I didn't tell her," Clarke said, go which Anya breathed a sigh of relief. "How have you been since then? Any more panic attacks?" 

"No, not yet," Anya told her. "Please don't tell her. She'll make me take a vacation." 

"That could be helpful. Did you cut back on work a little bit?" 

"No. She'd figure it out. She's like a fucking ninja or Yoda or something."

"You need to take better care of yourself. Maybe skip the beer until Friday, okay? But that doesn't give you an excuse to get trashed the rest of the weekend," Clarke said. "If you have any problems between now and Saturday, I'll be at the hospital. You can ask someone to page me."

"Thank you. I will," Anya said. 

"Better yet, take my number in case you have any more problems," Clarke said, going to Lexa's desk to grab a sticky note and a pen to scribble down her number. She handed the bright yellow post it to Anya, who tucked it away securely in the pocket of her blazer. 

"So, you and Lexa, huh?" 

Clarke smiled. "Yes, Lexa and I."

"Oh, God. You're one of those grammar Nazis," Anya said with a roll of her eyes. 

"Problem?" 

"No," Anya told her. "Lexa said you're a surgeon, but you were in the ER." 

"I'm a trauma surgeon, so if I'm not in the OR, I'm in the ER," Clarke explained to her. "How'd you meet Lexa?" 

"I pushed her out of my favorite swing during recess," Anya said with out apologies. 

"Man, you were a heartless child," Clarke said with a laugh. 

"Best decision I ever made," Anya told her. "And who said that I'm still not heartless?" 

"Well, I wouldn't know. I met you once before, and that was in an emergency room half filled with parents who thought their kids' colds were the next epidemic."

"You want to come hang out at our place?" 

Clarke raised a brow. "Seriously?" 

"Yeah. I get to tease Lexa and you get a free meal. It's a win-win."

"Not for Lexa, it isn't."

"She gets to introduce her girlfriend. It's a win for her."

Clarke blushed and shook her head. "We've only been on two dates. We're not girlfriends yet."

"Damn, Lexa moves so slow. I should knock some sense into her." 

"It hasn't even been a week."

"Semantics," Anya said, waving her off. 

The sound of the door opening revealed Lexa stepping back in the room, and Anya wasted no time in sharing her best friend. "What is wrong with you?" 

Lexa paused in the doorway. "Excuse me?" 

"You've got a hot, smart woman in your office that you don't call your girlfriend? Where's your game, Woods?" 

"Anya, please leave," Lexa said. "I signed the agreement."

Anya huffed, but left Lexa's office without a fight, though she did 'bump' into Lexa on her way out.

"I'm really sorry about her," Lexa sighed, moving towards where Clarke was by Lena's desk. "She's..."

"Friendly."

"What?" Lexa asked, not believing the word that came out of the blonde's mouth. 

"Anya is cool. I like her."

"I repeat: what?" Yep, Lexa decided. Clarke was more than likely hallucinating. 

Clarke rolled her eyes at Lexa. "Stop exaggerating."

"Sorry, that's not other people's usual first impression of Anya," Lexa said, inviting Clarke to take a seat with her on the chairs across from her desk. 

"Aren't you supposed to be working?" 

"Hey, I busted my ass for a decade. I think I can enjoy using the 'I'm the boss' excuse," Lexa said, then sighed. "Yeah, I probably should, but I like talking to you."

"I should probably go then, if I'm distracting you," Clarke said, standing up. She reached across Lexa's desk to grab the container of cookies. 

"You're not mad, are you?" 

Clarke turned back to Lexa, confusion settling in. "Mad? Why would I be mad?" 

"I don't know. I always felt like it was a bad thing when a woman said that," Lexa said sheepishly. 

Clarke softened. She placed a hand on Lexa's jaw, then learned down to give her a sweet kiss before pulling away, straying only a few inches from Lexa's face. "I'm not mad. You're busy and I should let you work. We have all the time in the world to talk."

Lexa could hear her heartbeat against her eardrums. "Okay."

"Do you want to do dinner Tuesday at your place?" Clarke asked. "I'd love to cook dinner with you."

"Okay, but I'll pick you up. I don't want you driving at night. The woods are dark and I don't want you to get lost."

"Okay," Clarke agreed, pressing her lips to Lena's one last time before pulling away. "I'm going to be at my parents' house tonight for dinner, so if I don't get to call you before Sunday, I promise I'm trying not to ignore you."

Lexa smiled. "I know, Clarke. I'll walk you out."


	8. Chapter 8

"Mom, dad, I'm home!" Raven called out as she led the four of them into Clarke's childhood home. 

"My favorite daughter!" Jake gets, giving Raven first before Clarke. "I've missed you." 

"Way to leave your flesh and blood hanging there, dad," Clarke deadpanned, closing the front door after Bellamy and Octavia walked in. 

"Hi, sweetheart," Jake smiled, moving to give Clarke a quick hug and kiss to the top of her head. "Bellamy, how'd you like Adelaide?" 

"Really enjoying it so far," Bellamy told him, giving Jake a quick hug before the older man moved on to hug Octavia. 

Octavia rolled her eyes at her brother. "He fell off a kangaroo."

Clarke walked away from her father and her friends to find her mother mixing lemonade in the kitchen. She walked over and have her a kiss on the cheek. "Hi, mom."

"Hi, sweetie," Abby greeted. "Can you get some ice out of the freezer?" 

"Sure," Clarke said, moving to open the bottom drawer of the stainless steel fridge to grab a tray of ice cubes. "Are you going to be at work tomorrow?" 

"Yes. Your new shift starts tomorrow, right?" 

"Yeah, I get out Sunday morning," Clarke told her, handing her mother the tray of ice cubes while closing the drawer with her foot. "When are you planning on telling the board?" 

"There's a meeting at ten, and I just hope it doesn't last more than an hour."

"Want me to page you fifteen minutes in?" Clarke asked, leaning on the counter as her mother dropped the ice cube into the glass jug. 

"Yes, please," Abby said. "You and I both know I can't last any more than that in there."

"But Callie's your best friend," Clarke teased. 

Any shot her daughter a look. "Callie is the only one in there that I can stand. You know that."

Clarke sent a sweet smile her mother's way. "What's for dinner?"

"Your father had been watching The Godfather all weekend, so this week, it's all Italian, all the time," Abby told her. "There's pasta on the stove and homemade pizza in the oven."

"Yes," Clarke cheered. 

"Hi, mom!" Raven said, grinning as she walked into the kitchen. She gave Abby a quick side hug, until the older woman pushed the jug of lemonade into Raven's hands. 

"Hi, sweetie. Do me a favor and put that on the table for me."

Clarke wiggled her brows at Raven after Abby turned around to grab aloe water from the fridge, and the brunette narrowed her eyes at her roommate before walking out of the kitchen. 

The oven beeped, signaling the end of the timer Jake had set in place. 

"Clarke, can you take the pizza out and cut it into eight slices?" Abby asked, closing the fridge to open a drawer and take out a pizza slicer for Clarke to use. 

"Sure."

Clarke spent the next few minutes helping her mother out with prepping the food, then brought it all out to the dinner table. Her father and friends were looking over Bellamy's shoulder at pictures of his misadventures in Australia. 

"Dinner is ready!" Abby called out, clapping twice to get their attention. The Blakes came over to greet Abby, and within minutes, everyone was seated around the dining table with a comfortable amount of food on their plates. 

"So, how's everyone been?" Jake asked, digging into his salad. 

"Clarke went found someone at the mall," Raven said, earning a small glare from the blonde herself. "They've been on two dates in four days."

"Are you five?" Clarke asked her in annoyance. 

"Who is it?" Abby asked. 

"She's a businesswoman. We met on Friday, and just kind of clicked," Clarke said with a shrug, smiling down at her food. 

"What's her name?" 

"Lexa,"  Clarke told them. "Bellamy met her yesterday."

"You did?" Raven asked, and the actor nodded, swallowing the food in his mouth.

"It was a coincidence, but I did. I really like her. She's a cool person," Bellamy told them .

"Why does Bellamy meet her and we don't?" 

"Because he's well-behaved," Clarke shot back, to which Raven stuck out her tongue. "You'll meet her. She's picking me up Tuesday night for dinner."

"Which restaurant are you going to?" Abby asked. 

"We're actually going to cook dinner at her place," Clarke told them. "Her house is in the middle of the woods in Langley, so she figured it would be a lot safer to pick me up than for me to get lost in the dark."

"That's sweet of her," Abby said. "But a house in Langley?" 

"She makes good money," Clarke told them, to which Bellamy snorted. Clarke gave him a look. 

Octavia noticed. "What was that?" 

Clarke pretended to not understand what she was talking about. "What was what?" 

"That look. The look you gave him when he snorted."

"There was no look."

"Yes, there was."

"No, there wasn't."

"Yes."

"No."

"Yes."

"Okay, fine. She's rich. That's why he snorted."

"How rich are we talking?" Raven asked, suddenly way too invested in the conversation. 

"Rich rich."

"Give us a number."

"If I tell you, then you're obviously going to figure it out," Clarke said. "She's pretty up there."

"Okay, how about this? Is she rich enough to be on Shark Tank?" 

"Easily." 

Raven sat in momentary silence. Then she turned to Abby and Jake. "Your daughter just struck gold."

Clarke rolled her eyes. Her phone buzzed so she took it out of her pocket to find a text from Lexa. Clarke unlocked her phone to see that it was a picture Anya and whom she assumed to be Aden and Lincoln. Anya looked like she was in the middle of talking. 

 _ **Lexa**_ :  
I'm being interrogated about our relationship. 

 _ **Lexa**_ :  
Send help. 

Clarke chuckled at then next image Lexa sent, which was of Anya still in the middle of speaking, but this time, she was halfway blinking and it was the funniest thing Clarke's seen.

 _ **Clarke**_ :  
Hahaha that last pic is hilarious XD

 _ **Clarke**_ :  
I'm afraid I can't help you. Things aren't much  
better on my end. Raven started dinner by  
announcing to my parents that I was dating   
someone.

 _ **Lexa**_ :  
I can't wait until they find out XD

 _ **Lexa**_ :  
Don't let me keep you away from dinner. Talk  
to you soon x

 _ **Clarke**_ :  
I'll try to text you before I go to bed :)

Clarke put away her phone and decided to rejoin her own setting, only to look up and see everyone staring at her. "What?"

"You've been laughing at your phone, and it's kind of hard not to notice when you wouldn't answer to us calling you," Raven teased. "Is it her?"

"Yeah. Apparently, I'm not the only one being interrogated tonight," Clarke told them, taking bite out of her pizza. "Dad, I love you, but I love this pizza more."

"Welcome to my life," Abby said, emitting a laugh from everyone around the table. 

 

 

 

"Okay, you can get off your phone now," Anya said as Lexa finished reading Clarke's last text. 

"I'm done anyway. She's in the middle of dinner at her parents' house," Lexa said, locking her phone.

"I'm still pissed that you're inviting her over when I'm in Japan."

"You literally spent five minutes with her. Why are you mad?"

"In those five minutes, I've come to the conclusion that she's not a dumb blonde," Anya said. "I'm satisfied, so you may continue dating her."

"Thanks for your permission, mom," Lexa mocked, rolling her eyes. She then turned to her brother. "Are you up for meeting her Tuesday?"

"Isn't that kind of awkward?" Aden asked. "I mean, you haven't labeled your relationship, so isn't it weird that I meet her when you haven't known her even a week?"

"No. I mean, originally, I was going to give you some money and tell you to get lost for a few hours, but she took pity on you and wanted to meet you," Lexa said, ending with a sweet smile.

"You suck," Aden told her.

"In more ways than one," Anya added, dodging the pillow Lexa threw at her. "Respect your elders, kid."

"Respect your boss," Lexa threw back.

"Cute, but your title gets stripped at the perimeter of this property, so you don't get to use that excuse."

"Why do you I even hang out with you?" Lexa muttered, turning back to her brother. "So, Tuesday. Dinner or no?"

Aden shrugged. "I'm cool with it if you are. Are you cooking?"

"Yeah, I was thinking salmon."

"Sounds good to me."

"Cool," Lexa said as she stood up to gather her plate and glass. "I've got to catch up on paperwork, so I'll probably be holed up in the office for a while. If I don't see you later, then goodnight."

"Night," the three of them called out as Lexa moved to put her dishes in the dishwasher.

She left the kitchen to go up the stairs to her bedroom, where she grabbed her laptop and bag of files she took home with her from work, then walked out of her room to go next door to her office. She sat down at her desk to work, and before she knew it, it was half past nine and her phone was ringing. Lexa tore her eyes away from her computer screen to see the picture she took of Clarke trying octopus sashimi for the first time the day before. Lexa picked up her phone and answered the call. "Hey."

" _Hi_ ," Clarke greeted. 

"How was dinner?" Lexa asked, spinning in her chair to face the bookshelves to her left. "Did they grill you a lot?"

" _If Raven hadn't opened her big, fat mouth, I would've thought they wouldn't interrogate me at all_ ," Clarke sighed. " _But no. It was more like the first ten or fifteen minutes, then we talked about other stuff. I'm not calling too late, am I?_ "

"No, you're not. I was about to take a break from work, so you have perfect timing, actually," Lexa chuckled. 

" _Good,_ " Clarke said. " _How was your end of the interrogation?_ "

"Anya was being all whiny because you're coming over when she's out of the country," Lexa said. "Lincoln wasn't too bothered. He figured he'd meet you another time, and Aden is cool with having dinner with us."

" _Nice_ ," Clarke said, and then came a big yawn from her. 

"Tired?"

" _I always am. Swapping with my coworker shook me a little, and my new schedule this week is going to be a pain._ "

"When was the last time you took a vacation?"

" _That's a hilarious question to ask surgeons," Clarke told her. "My last stress-free vacation was between my sophomore and junior year of college._ "

"You're kidding."

" _I swear_."

"Why don't you take one?"

" _Well, I can't right now. I have my Boards in November, and I've been studying since March. Plus, I submitted my research proposal on Tuesday, so if that gets approved before my Boards, which it might, then I'm going to have to start gathering funds and earning grants, and then I have to do the work for the actual research, which is going to be at least a year, all while—_ "

"Clarke," Lexa cut her off. "Breathe."

Lexa could hear Clarke breathing in and out, her breathes becoming longer with each one. " _Thank you._ "

"You're welcome. Please, for your sake, slow down."

" _I'm sorry that I'm dumping this all on you._ "

"Hey, don't apologize for that. You need to get this off your chest. If I didn't want to listen, I would've hung up the phone, but I'm not going to do that," Lexa told her. "Do you need someone next to you?"

" _That would be nice, but Octavia's sleeping and Raven got called into work to fix a problem_."

"Do you want me to come over?"

" _Lexa—_ "

"I'm coming over."

" _It's ten o'clock, Lexa. You have work to do_."

"And you're going to be pulling a ridiculous shift at work. I'm coming over," Lexa said in a final tone. "Fifteen minutes and I'm there, okay?"

Clarke paused. " _Okay_."

After hanging up, Lexa grabbed her keys and walked down the steps. The living room was dark, which meant that everyone went to bed. She walked silently to the front door and exited the house, closing the door behind her. She went straight to her car and turned it on, barely securing her seatbelt before leaving the property. By speeding, she was able to make it to Clarke's apartment in ten minutes. 

Lexa gently knocked on Clarke's apartment, forgoing the doorbell because she was afraid it would wake Octavia. Almost immediately, the door opened, revealing Clarke. She was dressed in pajamas, and upon seeing Lexa, almost immediately went to hug her, and Lexa let her. Lexa rocked the two of them back and forth, squeezing tighter when Clarke did. 

"Do you want to go inside?" Lexa finally asked when Clarke pulled away. 

Clarke nodded her head, and grabbed Lexa's hand to pull her inside. Lexa could tell that this was a shoes-off kind of home, so she slipped off her slides, which she only realized she was still wearing at that exact moment, and followed Clarke to her room. 

Lexa let go of Clarke's hand to pull back the covers on the blonde's bed, then slowly dragged Clarke towards the bed. "We're just going to lay down, okay?"

"Okay," Clarke agreed. She and Lexa got into the blonde's bed, and Clarke wasted no time in putting her head on Lexa's outstretched arm. They shifted around until they were pressed next to each other, Clarke's head laying on Lexa's collarbone, while the brunette wrapped her arm around Clarke. 

"Do you want to talk about it?" Lexa asked in a soft voice.

"No," Clarke said, in an even softer tone. 

"Okay," Lexa said. "Later?"

"Yeah."

 

 

 

Clarke's alarm blared from where her phone was on the nightstand. The blonde groggily reached over and grabbed her phone to shut off the alarm. She locked her phone and huffed, turning to her left to see Lexa's sleeping form. One of the brunette's arms was outstretched, providing extra cushioning for Clarke's head. The blonde smiled and carefully got up, deciding that it was best to let Lexa sleep for a little while longer while she got ready for work. 

Within twenty minutes, Clarke was already prepped for the day, and she had just left the kitchen with her and Lexa's breakfast in a paper bag. She quickly peeked into Raven and Octavia's rooms to make sure that they were still asleep, and after making sure that their doors were closed, Clarke walked back into her room to wake Lexa up. 

She gently shook the brunette's shoulders, bending down to gently speak in Lexa's ear. "Lexa, wake up. I have to get to work. Lexa, babe."

Lexa groaned and rolled over to face Clarke, tiredly opening her eyes. Clarke chuckled as she observed Lexa slowly realize that Clarke was the one waking her up. 

"Good morning, sleepy head," Clarke whispered, pulling a few loose strands behind Lexa's ears as the brunette rubbed her eyes. 

"Good morning," Lexa replied, finally removing her hands from her face to sit up on the bed. She blinked several times in a row to get used to her surroundings, then turned to Clarke, who was melting at the sight of Lexa waking up disoriented. "What time is it?"

"Almost five," Clarke told her, taking a seat on the bed next to Lexa. "I feel really bad waking you up, and even worse that you fell asleep here."

"It's okay, Clarke," Lexa told her with a lazy smile and half-open eyes. "I'd do it again in a heartbeat."

Clarke smiled and reached over to grab Lexa's cheek, then leaned over to press a kiss to Lexa's cheek. "You're so sweet."

"Are you going to work?" Lexa asked, leaning her head on Clarke's shoulder.

"Yeah, but I was going to drive you back home first," Clarke said, bringing a hand up to play with the baby curls at the back of Lexa's neck. "Still tired?"

"Mm," Lexa hummed, eyes still closed. "You don't have to do that. I don't want you to be late."

"My shift doesn't start until six, and the roads are clear. I always show up early anyway," Clarke told her. "Plus, I don't feel very comfortable letting you drive when you're half-asleep. You can just get your car back later. Sounds good?"

"Mm," Lexa repeated, smiling when she felt Clarke's shoulders shake from her quiet chuckles. 

"Alright, sleepy," Clarke said. "Do you want some breakfast? I have supermarket croissants filled with jam."

Lexa sighed and lifted her head from Clarke's shoulder, opening her eyes to see the food offered to her. She took her breakfast and took a huge bite, moaning when she realized that it was warm. "This is so good."

"Wow, you're funny in the mornings," Clarke said, patting Lexa's knee. "Do you want to wash up?"

"Too tired," Lexa managed to say in-between bites.

"Okay, then I'm going to grab my purse and then we can leave. Do you have your stuff with you?"

Lexa felt around her pockets for her phone and keys, giving Clarke a thumbs up to signal that she was good to go. "Okay, good. Let's go." 

The two of them stood up and Lexa followed the blonde out of the room after Clarke grabbed her phone. While Clarke went to grab her purse, Lexa finished the croissant and slipped her sneakers on, ready by the time Clarke joined her at the door. They quietly exited Clarke's apartment and made their way to Clarke's car. As soon as she was buckled, Lexa's seat was reclining back. 

"I need your address, Lex," Clarke told her.

"8123 Woodburn Court," Lexa replied in a sleepy voice. Her eyes were drooping, and the hum of the engine merely lulled her back to sleep. It only felt like she closed her eyes for a few seconds when Clarke was shaking her again.

"Lex, we're here," Clarke said, shaking the brunette's shoulder gently. 

"I don't wanna move," Lexa whined, though she did open her eyes and unbuckled her seat belt. 

"As much as I would love to sneak you into work with me, I can't," Clarke said, laughing when she saw Lexa's face. 

"What?" Lexa asked.

Clarke merely reached over and wiped her thumb on the corner of Lexa's mouth, revealing the jam that had been stuck there. "Oh."

"I need you to open the gate. This was as far as I could get without waking you," Clarke told her as Lexa stretched. 

"It's fine. I don't want you to be late. I can walk from here," Lexa told her, pulling the reclined chair back up. "Did last night help?"

"Yeah," Clarke told her. "You didn't have to stay, you know. You could have left as soon as I fell asleep. I feel really bad that I pulled you away from your work and I woke you up super early this morning."

"It's okay, Clarke. I wanted to be there for you," Lexa told her. "You can call me anytime, okay? And I mean that."

"Okay," Clarke said quietly. "Thank you."

"I'd kiss you right now, but morning breath on my end is preventing that," Lexa said, making Clarke giggle. "Thank you for the ride."

"It was the least I could do. You can pick up your car whenever you'd like," Clarke told her.

"Okay." They sat there with smiles on their faces, smiling at each other, until Lexa finally that she should get out of the car. "I'll talk to you soon."

"Bye, Lexa."

Lexa reached over the console for a hug before exiting Clarke's car, and she saw that the blonde didn't even bother reversing out of the driveway until Lexa had at least closed the gate behind her after entering the property. After waving at Clarke's car and watching it disappear down the road and in between the trees, Lexa began the long walk up the rest of the driveway to her house. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So, I know this is way later than it should be, but I've had some projects pop up, and I've been job hunting. When school picks back up in late August, I'll be swamped with that, work (that I hopefully get hired for), and some projects that I've been planning with organizations. Please be patient with me, and I'll try to roll out as many updates as I can. 
> 
> For those of you reading Move Along, nearly done with the next chapter, so look for the notification by the weekend. 
> 
> Comment what you thought! I love feedback on my work, and I'm always looking to improve.


	9. Chapter 9

"So, how was your sleepover?" Anya asked, wiggling her brows at Lexa through the rearview mirror.

Lexa groaned. "Is that all we're going to be talking about for the next ten minutes?"

"Yes, especially since I have to drop you off at her place to pick up your car," Anya said, swatting her step-brother's upper arm. "C'mon, Linc, back me up here."

"I'd rather keep my job," was Lincoln's reply.

Anya rolled her eyes. "You're such a chicken. All that muscle is wasted on you. So, Lexa, you're not getting out of this. How was it? When did you leave?"

"It was ten or so when I left. We didn't have sex. She was just overly stressed and I went there to comfort her," Lexa told her. "It really isn't something to make a big deal of. I work up at five this morning, had a quick breakfast, and she drove me back. I went to bed for another hour, and then just went about like I normally do."

"What's she stressed about?" Anya asked. 

"She has her boards in a few months and her research proposal to worry about. I told her to take a vacation and she nearly laughed in my face. Can you believe the last time she was completely relaxed was a decade ago?"

"What?" 

"You're lying," Lincoln said.

"I'm serious. That isn't healthy. I don't know how she's properly functioning. And it's going to get worse after her research gets approved, apparently."

Anya stayed silent as she pulled into Clarke's street. She didn't speak another word, letting Lincoln and Lexa discuss the dangers of stress until she stopped in front of the building she inputted into the address. 

"So, we'll see you at Sir?" Lincoln asked the brunette, who was taking off her seatbelt. 

"Yeah, you guys can go ahead. You don't have to wait. Better you get the to the tables first, actually," Lexa said on her way out of the car. She closed the door behind her and waved as Anya began driving away. Lexa turned to walk towards her car, which was parked in between Clarke's building and the one adjacent to hers, only pausing in her footsteps when she heard her name being called. 

"Lexa!"

 The brunette paused and turned to see Bellamy waving as he jogged down the sidewalk towards her, his running shorts and sweaty shirt concluded the fact that he was running. 

"Bellamy," Lexa smiled, stepping onto the sidewalk to greet him just as he slowed and stopped. "Hey. How are you?" 

"Good, I'm doing well. You?" He asked, moving his hands to the top of his head to control his breathing. "Clarke is at work for the next few day. 

"I'm doing great. And, I know. I came to pick up my car," she told him, pointing at her CRV. 

Bellamy raised his brows and smirked, to which Lexa rolled her eyes. 

"Nothing like that. I just came over because she was upset, and we fell literally asleep. She drove me back home early at five this morning because I could barely open my eyes."

"I'm just teasing you," he chuckled. "Um, so if you don't mind, I have a copy of Octavia's contract inside. I can give it to you now." 

"Sure," Lexa said, following Bellamy towards the apartment. He had a spare key that he used to unlock the door, leading Lexa inside. 

"It's in my bag. Just follow me," he said, leading the brunette to the living room after the two of them took off their shoes. 

"I thought you were at the hotel," Lexa said, noticing Bellamy's luggage on the ground next to the couch, which had extra sheets and a sleeping pillow. 

"I was, but I had to leave because a few people saw me there. I called O this morning and she gave me a spare key on her way out of the house," Bellamy said. "Here it is." 

He pulled the folder out of his bag and handed it to Lexa, who took it from him. "Cool. I'll have my lawyers look over it."

"Thanks, and I'm really sorry if I'm putting you in an uncomfortable position. I just want the best for my sister, but she's a stubborn ass," Bellamy said with a roll of his eyes.

"Don't worry about it, Bellamy," Lexa said, glancing at her watch. "I'll get back to you on this. You leave on Monday, right?"

"Yeah, I do."

"Okay, I'll try to get back to you on this soon, but it's probably not going to be before you leave."

"Here, I'll just give you my contact info," Bellamy said, the two of them quickly adding a new contact to their phones. 

"Okay, I'll let you know as soon as I find something," Lexa said. "I hate to leaves quickly, but I have to meet my executives for lunch."

"No, go ahead. I should be the one apologizing for delaying you. I'll walk you out."

Not long after, Lexa was on the road to meet Anya and Lincoln.

 

 

 

"How did the meeting go?" Clarke asked her mother, looking at the X-rays she just printed. 

"Awful. Thank you for giving me an exit," Abby said, moving to stand next to her daughter. "What are we looking at?"

"A college soccer player. She shattered her knee, so I'm looking at the damage. I paged Watson, so she should be here any second to help."

"Sounds like fun."

"You want to scrub in?"

"If only. I've got paperwork to do."

"That's rough."

"That's being chief," Abby sighed. "So, about Lexa."

Clarke groaned. "Mom, not now. I'm working."

"We're the only ones in here."

"Watson is on her way."

"Someone just threw up on Watson. We've got at least twenty minutes."

"Great," Clarke muttered.

"So?"

"Yes?"

"What's she like?"

"She's about my height, maybe an inch taller. She's got brown hair and green eyes."

"You met her at the mall, right?"

"Yeah. It was in Sephora, and she was about to get a makeover from an employee whom Raven and Octavia agree that she doesn't know what she's doing, so I kind of rescued her. Then we went to get ice cream and talked for a little while. It was nice."

"Yeah?"

"Yeah. I really like her. We click, you know?"

"That's good. Do we get to meet her?"

"In a few weeks, probably. I mean, it's still new, but I get to meet her brother on Tuesday. She hasn't met Octavia and Raven, so there's that, too. I met her best friend, but I think there's a few more people she wants me to get to know, too."

"Speaking of your friends, why haven't they met her yet?"

Clarke pursed her lips, quickly debating whether to tell her mother. "She's actually one of the donors to the hospital."

Abby seemed surprised. "She is?"

"Yeah. I mean, I know her donations are anonymous, and she sends in half a million every two weeks, or something like that," Clarke said, turning to her mother. "Her name is Alexandria Woods, but she prefers Lexa."

"Oh. _Oh_ , wow," Abby said. "That's, well..."

Clarke laughed. "Yeah. Bellamy met her. She isn't flashy with her money. You'll like her."

Abby studied her daughter for a bit in silence. 

Clarke raised a brow. "What?"

"It's good to see you like this. I know you're stressed with your boards coming up soon and getting your research approved, so I'm glad you have someone to make you laugh," Abby said. "Sometimes, I regret putting the idea of becoming a surgeon in your head. I never wanted you to be this stressed out."

"Mom, I wouldn't have gone into this if I didn't want to," Clarke told her. "And you shouldn't blame yourself. If I was an artist, I'd be stressed about bills if I couldn't make money off my art."

Abby smiled and pulled her daughter into a hug. "God, I feel old when you talk like that."

Clarke laughed and squeezed her mother. "Well, retirement should clarify that for you."

"Clarke!" Abby gasped, pulling away. Her daughter just gave her a cheeky grin.

"But seriously, mom, promise you won't tell O and Rae? I mean, I'm fine with dad, obviously, but not those two. I mentioned O to Lexa, and she was interested in hiring her, but I don't want O to think that my relationship is what got her the interview."

"Is it?"

"No."

"Okay, I trust you," Abby said, just as Doctor Watson walked into the room.

"Hey, sorry I'm late. A patient threw up on me," Dr. Watson said. "Hi, Chief."

"Not a problem," Clarke said, smiling at Watson. 

"I'll leave you to your job," Abby said. "Clarke, lunch at one?"

"Sure," Clarke smiled, waving goodbye when her mother left. She turned back to the X-rays, standing next to Watson.

"So, is your mom actually retiring?" Watson asked after a moment of silence. 

"There's already rumors?" 

"Well, you're in a hospital, duh," Watson said. "So, it _is_ true. I want a head start on the candidates so I can figure out whether I need to kiss Ramirez's ass for the ortho chief spot."

Clarke sighed. "Watson, I know about as much as you do right now. Instead of gossiping, let's talk about this girl's surgery."


	10. Chapter 10

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So, I don't know why the last update cut off the chapter, but here it is in full. Enjoy!

"Hey, you're back," Bellamy said, looking his head out of the green one he heard the door open. 

Clarke blinked through her exhaustion, then glanced at the time on her phone. 7:04 am. "Why are you in my kitchen at seven in the morning on a Sunday?" 

"I had to ditch my hotel last week after a few fans spotted me," Bellamy shrugged. "I'm making breakfast, but that's probably dinner for you."

Clarke sighed. "Yeah, okay. I'm going to take a shower."

"Wake O and Rae when you're done," Bellamy told her, turning his attention back to the stove, where he was waiting for it to heat up so that he could cook his pancakes. 

Clarke trudged to just room, where she dumped her purse, phone, and keys on her bed before taking a towel and walking into the bathroom. Twenty minutes later, Clarke was brushing her hair after getting dressed, while simultaneously checking her phone for the texts she missed from Lexa.

 

 **Lexa:**  
I know you're probably busy saving lives  
rn, but do you like salmon?

 **Lexa:**  
It's what I was thinking I'd cook for  
Tuesday.

 **Lexa** **:**  
And Aden is joining us btw, but he might  
feel a little awkward, just saying.

 **Lexa:**  
Good morning :)

 **Lexa:**  
Hopefully, you're on your way back home  
and still not stuck at work.

 

Clarke smiled at the texts, then placed her hair brush aside in favor of responding to Lexa. 

 

 **Clarke:**  
Good morning to you, too :)

 **Clarke:**  
I just got home not too long ago, and  
I'll eat breakfast (dinner?) before heading  
bed, fyi.

 **Clarke:**  
Salmon sounds great! And Aden shouldn't  
feel too awkward after we make fun of you  
the entire time. :P

 

She grabbed her phone and made her way out of her room to wake up Octavia and Raven. She left them to wash up and joined Bellamy in the kitchen, barely taking her plate before her phone buzzed. Clarke glanced at it, and saw that it was a couple of texts from Lexa. 

 

 **Lexa:**  
-_-

 **Lexa:**  
Why am I not surprised?

 **Clarke:**  
The better question is why would you  
be? 

 **Lexa:**  
You're so mean to me.

 **Lexa:**  
How was work?

 **Clarke:**  
Exhausting, like usual, but not much  
other than that. I'm looking forward  
to my 12 hours of sleep.

 **Lexa:**  
:O

 **Lexa:**  
Do you actually sleep that much?

 **Clarke:**  
Unfortunately :/

 **Clarke:**  
I once slept for 18 hours straight.

 **Clarke:**  
I probably would have slept longer  
had Raven not dumped ice cold   
water on me because she thought  
I was dead -_-

 **Lexa:**  
XD hahaha

 **Clarke:**  
Yeah, yeah, laugh while you still  
can, until someone does it to you.

 

"Um, hello?" Raven waved her hand in front of Clarke's face, causing the blonde to flinch from surprise. "Griff, I've been trying to start a conversation with you for five minutes. 

Clarke looked around, noticing the others were all staring at her with smug looks on their faces. Clarke, huffed. "Shut up. Just wait until you find someone. I'm going to have a field day with that."

"We've all been in relationships before, Griff. We know how the drill works."

"Shut up," Clarke muttered, firing off a quick text to Lexa, telling her that she'd text her later, before pocketing her phone in her sweats. "Flu season's coming."

"Are we going to have to quarantine your room, again?" Octavia asked as the four of them walked out of the kitchen to the living room. Octavia occupied the couch with her brother, while Raven and Clarke took the loveseat. "I have my interview on Tuesday. Let's not forget that."

"You nervous for it?" Bellamy asked, acting nonchalant, as if he didn't already know that Octavia stood a huge chance of getting that job.

"So nervous. I took tomorrow and Tuesday off."

"Damn. How'd your boss take it?"

"He gave me the stink eye, but I couldn't care any less," Octavia shrugged. "What time is the Nationals' game?"

"One-thirty," Raven said, then turned to Clarke. "So, been texting your gal pal?"

"As a matter of fact, yes," Clarke answered, taking a bite out of her second pancake. "I mean, not while I was working, but I did text her back this morning. She sent me a couple of messages the last few days."

"Did she think you were ignoring her or something?"

"No, I told her about what happens when I have back to back shifts at work, and she understood," Clarke said. 

"What did you guys talk about?" Octavia asked.

"She just wanted my opinion on what to make for dinner on Tuesday. She had salmon in mind and I agreed," Clarke said, yawning towards the end of the sentence. "As much as I'd love to give you the deets on my love life, I'm dead tired. So, if you don't mind, I'm putting these in the fridge and going to bed." 

"Don't sleep too much," Raven smirked, recalling back to when she dumped ice cold water on Clarke.

"I still hate you for that!"

 

 

 

On Tuesday, Aden drove Anya and Lincoln to the airport. Getting there was easy. Getting back was a mess.

" _Lexa, I literally don't know where the fuck I am. The GPS took me in a giant circle_ ," Aden said, frustration obvious in his voice. 

"Where did you pull up?" 

" _I don't know. A Sunoco gas station, but I don't know the address._ "

"Well, then walk inside and ask the employee," Lexa deadpanned. 

" _Fine_ ," Aden muttered, and Lexa could hear the slamming of his car door.

While waiting for Aden, Lexa quickly emailed her VP of Legal Affairs to reschedule their meeting to Thursday, then logged off her computer. Seeing as she had finished with Octavia's interview earlier that day, there was no harm in leaving early. 

"He said that I'm in Herndon," Aden said, then rattled off the address to her. 

"Okay, I know where you are. I'll be there in about a half hour," Lexa said. 

After saying their goodbyes, Lexa hung up her phone, then walked out of her office, making sure to lock it behind her. She walked down the hallway, towards the office of her CMO and stuck her head in the doorway. "Hey, Ontari. My brother got lost driving back from the airport. I'm going to head out early to make sure he doesn't end up in Virginia Beach. If you need anything, just shoot me a text."

"Sure," Ontari said, barely glancing up from her computer as she continued to type out her email. "When do Lincoln and Anya get back?"

"Friday, but their flights don't get in until late afternoon or the evening," Lexa said. "You okay here by yourself?"

"Yep," Ontari said. "Have fun on your date tonight."

Lexa narrowed her eyes at her friend, who smiled smugly at her boss after sending the email. "I'm going to kill Anya."

"Sure you will," Ontari smirked. "Tell me how it goes. Are we still up for drinks on Friday?"

"Yeah, but I doubt the other two will be joining us if they're jet-lagged."

Ontari shrugged. "Sucks for them. Want to go to Kapnos?"

"As long as you don't mind Aden tagging along."

"It's cool. Best to get his tastebuds going with DC's food, anyhow."

"Cool. I've got to go find him now, but I'll see you tomorrow."

"Later."

Lexa walked away from Ontari's office and towards the elevator, informing her assistant that she was leaving on the way out. Ten minutes later, Lexa was in her car driving towards her brother. When she arrived a half-hour later, she found Aden sitting in his car with the windows down and a plate of half-eaten Chipotle bowl in his lap. 

"You're late," Aden said as Lexa stepped out of her car and walked towards Aden's door.

"You're the one who got lost," Lexa reminded him, making her hand inside to steal a spoonful of chicken and rice. 

"Hey!"

"You're going to run out of money at this rate," Lexa said, handing him back the spoon. She took out her wallet and pulled out a couple of twenties, handing them to Aden. "Here."

"What's this for?"

"I don't want you working your first semester. It's better to focus on your studies and start off strong," Lexa said. "If you need something, just come and talk to me."

Aden eyed the bills, then looked up at his sister. "You're giving me two hundred dollars."

"Yes, and you can pay me back by getting straight A's this semester," Lexa said, pocketing her wallet. "Your only job right now is to be a student, and if you hadn't gotten that scholarship from Georgetown, I wouldn't be doing this."

"It's only a partial scholarship," Aden reminded her. "You're covering the rest of it."

"Because I know you're a smart kid, and you're responsible about your studies," Lexa said. "I know you don't feel very comfortable taking it, but think of it as me giving you the rest of the scholarship that Georgetown didn't give you."

Aden hesitated, but eventually took the money. "Fine."

Lexa smiled and messed up his hair, to which Aden scowled but did nothing to prevent it.

"You still need to stuff from school, right?"

"Yeah, and then there's orientation tomorrow." 

"Okay. Follow me, and I'll go home and change, then I can go with you to DC."

"Aren't you going back to work?"

"No, I took the rest of the afternoon off," Lexa told him, stepping away from his car and walking back to hers. 

 

 

 

"I'm still on cloud nine," Octavia said, smiling as she watched the printer print her letter of resignation. "I can't believe she hired me on the spot."

"Mm," Clarke sounded, but she was only really half-listening to Octavia. She was more focused on studying for her boards. 

"And you're not listening," Octavia dryly commented, pulling her resignation letter out of the printer and immediately putting it in a folder to be tucked into her work bag. 

"Yes, I am," Clarke said half-heartedly. When Octavia gave no response, Clarke looked up to find the brunette looking at her with an impressed look. "Okay, I'm kind of not, but for good reason. I'm studying."

"Fine, that'll get you out of jail _this_ time."

"I am so humbled," Clarke deadpanned, tossing her tablet at Octavia, who barely managed to catch it. "Quiz me."

"Clarke, I can't pronounce half of these words."

"Just try. I'll get the gist of it."

"Fine," Octavia grumbled. "A 38-year-old man is brought to the emergency department two hours after having a stroke— okay, who the fuck waits two hours to bring someone to the hospital after they've—"

"Octavia."

"Right, sorry. A 38-year-old man is brought to the emergency department two hours after having a stroke involving the distribution of the left middle cerebral artery. In which of the following situations is thrombolytic therapy most appropriate: A, following observation for twelve hours; B, if lumbar puncture shows no sign of sub- okay, I don't know how to pronounce this."

"I'm home," Raven announced shortly after opening the door. 

"Raven, do you know how to pronounce this?"

The Latina walked into the living room a few moments later to glance at the tablet. "Subarachnoid."

"Great, you help her."

Clarke stood up and snatched her tablet back. "You two are no help."

"Aren't you supposed to be getting ready?" Raven asked, glancing at the time on her watch. "It's already six. She's picking you up at seven, right?"

"I _was_ going to start after Octavia quizzed me for a bit, but that's obviously never going to happen," Clarke said, walking away from the two of them to take a shower. 

"So, she hired you on the spot?" Raven asked Octavia, remembering when she got a text from her friend late-morning with the news. 

"Yeah. She wants me to get started right away."

"You're going to quit Hilton?" 

"I wasn't going to, but then she offered me a sign-on bonus I couldn't say no to, so there's that," Octavia shrugged. "I'm handing in my resignation letter tomorrow, and I'm going to tie everything up by the end of next week."

"So, for the foreseeable future, you're not moving, right?" 

"No, it's a permanent full-time position," Octavia said.

"So, can we be done with this stupid fight about moving?" Raven asked. "I'd like to have my best friend back."

Octavia smiled and reached in for a hug. "I'm really sorry about the fight."

"Me, too," Raven said as they pulled away from the hug.

Octavia hesitated before saying her next sentence. "It was never about me leaving."

"I know," Raven said, smiling sympathetically. "If you would have just talked to us, we would have helped you out. You kept pushing us away, which really pissed me off, but I know why you did it."

"We're good now, though, right?" 

"Thick as thieves," Raven promised. "Let's go annoy Clarke."

When Clarke stepped out of her bathroom twenty minutes later, she found her two best friends making their way through her closet. "Um, what are you two doing?" 

"Helping you get ready for your date," Octavia answered as she pulled out a burgundy dress from Clarke's closet. "When did you get this?" 

"When I went shopping with my mom for mother's day," Clarke told her. "And need I remind you that we're not in high school? There's no need to have the entire squad here."

"Yeah, but it's more fun this way," Octavia said. "Dress, skirt, or pants?" 

"What do you think?" Clarke asked, grabbing her hairbrush and handing it to Raven to brush her hair. "I seriously don't know what to wear."

"Well, then, it's Octavia to the rescue," the brunette said. "Have you slept with her yet?" 

Clarke's cheeks lit on fire. "No, and that's probably not going to happen tonight either, since her brother is home. Ow, Raven!" 

"Sorry," the Latina murmured, trying to brush out the knot in Clarke's hair. 

"Well, just in case," Octavia said, pulling out a skirt and a blouse that she knew made Clarke's boobs look amazing. "Gotta take care of your ladies."

Clarke let out a laugh at that, and idly chatted with her two best friends while waiting for Raven to finish brushing her hair. After Raven was done, Clarke stood up and changed right in front of them, which was something they'd all gotten used to since meeting and living together since their UPenn days.

"Hair up or down?" Clarke asked, demonstrating for the two of them. 

"Down," Octavia and Raven both voiced. 

"Are you nervous meeting her brother?" Raven asked. 

"Just a little. He's a rising freshman at Georgetown, so the worst thing that could happen is us passing time by awkwardly asking what he's planning on pursuing. His sister will be there as a buffer, but still."

"Ooh, let me do your makeup, please," Octavia said, pushing Clarke to sit on her bed while having Clarke's makeup bag. 

"Not too much, okay?" 

"I got you," Octavia winked.

"You might want to hurry. It's almost a quarter to seven," Raven said, looking at her watch. 

"I'm just doing eyes, lips, and brows. I can't wait to meet her though. The suspense has been killing me."

"Has it?" Clarke teased. 

"Shut up or I'll ruin your makeup."

"And just saying, if your girlfriend is around for Christmas, I've always wanted a Tesla," Raven mentioned. 

"Ooh, if we're talking presents, a trip to Fiji would be nice."

Clarke chuckled. "You two are unbelievable, do you know that?" 

"Heard it a few times during my sexcapades," Raven smugly grinned. 

"Raven, no."

"Speaking of, I still need someone to hook up with. Got any McSteamies at the hospital, Griff?" 

"Even if I did, there is no way I'd set you up with any of my coworkers. That's just an awkward interaction waiting to happen when they ask me why you haven't called them back."

"We could hit up the bar scene in DC this weekend," Octavia suggested.

"Aw, for me?" Raven placed a hand over her chest. "You're too sweet, O." 

"Okay, Griff, you're good," Octavia said, putting the finishing touches on Clarke's lips with lipstick. 

"You should wear those black heels you got for Marcus' wedding last year," Been said, standing up to pull the pair out of Clarke's closet. "Will these make you taller than her?" 

"Maybe. Normally, without heels, I stand an inch or two shorter than her, maybe three," Clarke told them taking the heels from Raven to put them on. "Hey, O, can you pass me my perfume bottle?"

Octavia grabbed the bottle and handed it to Clarke, who spritzed it a few times on herself. She stood up and out the bottle back, then grabbed her phone and keys while Raven and Octavia argued over who would answer the door. 

Before they could settle the argument, the doorbell rang, and the two brunettes rushed to open the door, making Clarke roll her eyes as she followed the two of them. 

"I'm opening it," Octavia hissed, slapping Raven's hand away as she pulled open the door, only to find her new boss standing there in a black dress and heels. "Um, Ms. Woods."

Raven's eyes widened. "Wait, your new boss?" 

Octavia quickly gave Raven an elbow to the stomach. 

"Ow."

"Hi, Octavia," Lexa smiled. "Is Clarke here?" 

As if on cue, Clarke pushed between her two best friends and stepped out of the apartment, greeting her date with a kiss. "Hey, Lex."

"Hi. Ready?" Lexa asked with a smile. 

"Yep," Clarke answered, intertwining their fingers. She reached back and grabbed the doorknob, not bothering to address the unhinged jaws of her two best friends. "Bye, guys. Don't wait up."

She shut the door behind her, and it wasn't until two minutes after she left that Octavia turned to Raven. "Okay, what the fuck?" 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Yes, I know the suspense is killing you, but I promise the clexa date is next chapter. 
> 
> Tell me what you thought in the comments! 
> 
> Also, if anyone's interested in becoming a beta for this fiction, please let me know!


	11. Chapter 11

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Clarke meets Aden.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> First off, I'd like to thank my new beta for this story, M (@conehead on Ao3). Really saved my ass with this chapter.

"I hope you're happy," Clarke said, reading through the texts as they rapidly came in.

"I am, but why?" Lexa asked, glancing at Clarke before turning her attention back to the road.

"I have incoming death threats," Clarke told her, choosing to mute the texts coming from her friends. "Octavia is apparently going to bury me alive if I don't explain to her what the hell I was thinking."

Lexa let out a laugh at that. "I'm sure you'll enjoy that."

"No thanks to you," Clarke said in a joking manner. She reached across the armrest and intertwined their fingers. "So, you hired her."

"Yeah. Bellamy gave me a copy of her contract, and in writing, it was obvious that everything was all good, but someone above her was probably swallowing her income," Lexa said. "I told Bellamy that she could sue, but I advised against it."

"Why?"

"A couple of reasons. First, suing someone is expensive, long, and tiring. She'd probably get frustrated with the whole situation and drop the case, which isn't good for her. Second, I could just steal her from under her boss' nose. Obviously, she's capable of handling large projects, and her CV spoke for itself. Her previous employers spoke highly of her, and I don't usually directly deal with the hiring process, but her cover letter also won me over. Third, well, I can just call the CEO of Hilton and have him investigate and fire Octavia's boss on that project. It's a win-win."

"You didn't hire her just because she's my friend, right?"

"Of course not, and I don't mean that in a bad way. I didn't become this successful without being able to separate my relationships with people, from my job. Even if the worst did happen and I didn't hire her, it wouldn't mean that it would affect our relationship."

Clarke smiled and brought her lips to the back of Lexa's hand. "Careful. At this rate, I might fall in love with you."

Lexa pulled to a stop in front of the stoplight, then turned to Clarke with a twinkle in her eyes. "I wouldn't object to that."

Clarke grinned, then unbuckled her seatbelt to reach over the arm rest and grab Lexa's face, planting a giant kiss on her lips.

A car horn from behind jump scared them away from each other, and when Lexa realized the light was green, she turned her attention back to the road as Clarke sat down and buckled herself in again.

"I hate this light," Clarke huffed, and Lexa merely laughed as she reconnected their hands. "Are we girlfriends?"

"I'd like us to be," Lexa admitted.

"Okay. Then it's official," Clarke said. "Do you mind if I play something?"

"Not at all," Lexa said. "You might want to use my phone, though. It's already connected to the Bluetooth."

Clarke grabbed Lexa's phone from where it was in the cupholder. "Password?"

"030298," Lexa replied. "Aden's birthday."

"Ah," Clarke voiced, unlocking Lexa's phone. She tapped Spotify and began looking through Lexa's songs. "When's yours?"

"July twentieth. Yours?"

"The twenty-first," Clarke answered, as The Who filtered through the speakers of the car.

"Of this month?" Lexa asked, eyes wide. "That's next week."

"I know. I'm working," Clarke said, bunching her nose. "I don't really care for my birthday, though. I'm turning thirty-one, which is a long way away from forty, so I'm good."

"Thirty didn't scare you enough?" Lexa joked.

"I kind of slept through my thirtieth birthday. That's when I slept for eighteen hours straight," Clarke told her. "Raven literally dumped water on me at midnight, which was the next day, then yelled at me for ten minutes about how I ruined her plans for a surprise. I walked into the living room and found my parents were asleep on the couch."

Lexa laughed.

"Shut up." Clarke mumbled, turning up the speakers.

They only barely managed to get through My Generation before they arrived. Lexa opened the gate from her phone and drove up to the house, parking her car next to several others, one of which had a Pennsylvania license plate.

After killing the engine, they exited the car and rejoined hands as they walked to the house.

"Welcome to mi casa," Lexa said as she opened her front door. "Let's hope my brother didn't eat our dinner."

"You already cooked?" Clarke asked.

"I prepped and marinated everything and let Aden grill," Lexa said, closing the door behind them. "That's about the only thing that he can do besides boil water."

"Lex, is that you?" Aden shouted from the kitchen.

"No, I'm a murderer," Lexa deadpanned, rolling her eyes as she led Clarke to the kitchen. "Who else would it be?"

Clarke's parents were wealthy. That was obvious. Lexa, however, was a _billionaire_ , and her house made _that_ obvious. The sheer size of the house made it worth at least three or four million. When she stepped into the kitchen, she saw that it had a modern look with state of the art appliances. A blonde boy, whom Clarke concluded was Aden, sat at the kitchen island, scrolling through his phone. As soon as she and Lexa entered the kitchen, his phone was tucked away and he stood up to approach them.

"A, this is Clarke, my girlfriend. Clarke, this is my little brother, Aden," Lexa introduced.

"Hi. It's nice to finally meet you," Aden said, holding out a hand for Clarke to shake. Aden stood tall, at least six feet, taller than both her and Lexa. He was lean and carried a warm smile. "Lexa told me you're a surgeon, right?"

"Yeah, a trauma surgeon, and it's nice to meet you, too," Clarke smiled. "And Lexa told me you're a freshman at Georgetown. Have you explored the campus yet?"

"Lexa has shown me around a few times, but I haven't gone off and explored by myself," Aden said. "Dinner's on the dining table. Do you need to wash up?"

"Yep. Where's the bathroom?"

"First door on your left." Lexa said, smiling when Clarke kissed her on the cheek, then left to use the bathroom.

As soon as he heard the door close and the water running, Aden wiggled his brows at Lexa. "She's a ten."

"She's my girlfriend," Lexa reminded him in a not so subtle way.

"Calm down, Hulk. She seems nice," Aden said. "Glad you had the girlfriend conversation and cleared that up."

"She's great. I think you'll really like her."

Ten minutes later, the three of them were seated at Lexa's ten-person dining table.

"I really love the salmon. Nice grilling skills, Aden," Clarke winked at the blonde boy.

"Hey," Lexa pouted. "I'm the one who made it."

"Yeah, but I think Aden's grilling skills are what really pulled this dish off, babe," Clarke joked, high-fiving Aden.

"I like her. We're keeping her." Aden declared to his sister.

"I'm not sure _I_ want to keep her," Lexa muttered, sniffling dramatically, making Clarke laugh.

Clarke stuck her tongue out at Lexa, then quickly pulled it back in as she turned to Aden. "So, do you have any hobbies, Aden?"

"I was on the swim team in high school, and I do like to swim a lot, even though I don't do it for school anymore."

"Georgetown offered him a swimming scholarship," Lexa told Clarke.

"Yeah, but it was even less than the one I have now," Aden said. "But anyway, besides swimming, I like films and writing scripts in my free time."

"Really? What do you like to write?"

"I like writing coming-of-age stories, but I don't know whether that's because I'm going through that teenager to adult phase now or not."

"I have a friend that works in the film industry," Clarke mentioned, to which Lexa tried to hide her smirk behind her fork. "If you're interested, I could call him and have you two meet up and talk or something. He loves meeting people who are as geeky about films as he is."

"Yeah, that would be really cool. Thanks," Aden said. "What does he do?"

"It's not a problem, and I think his job is something that has him interacting with the actors and director a lot," Clarke said, shrugging as if she had no idea. "You could ask him when he gets back. He's about to start a shoot overseas in a week or two, so it'll be a few months before you can meet him. Maybe around Christmas if you guys are celebrating here."

“Anya, Linc, and I usually take turns hosting family here for the holidays,” Lexa told Clarke. “It's my turn this year, so my mom's coming down to celebrate with us."

"Nice," Clarke smiled. "Do you guys have a big family?"

"We have a _lot_ of cousins," Aden told her. "I think it's thirty on mom's side alone, right, Lex?"

"Sounds about right," Lexa confirmed.

"Wow. How many siblings does your mom have?" Clarke asked.

"Seven. Four uncles and three aunts."

"What about you, Clarke?" Aden asked.

"My parents are both only children, and I'm an only child, so I never grew up with any siblings or first cousins," Clarke told them. "My mom's cousin is probably the closest I'll get to having an uncle and he has two kids, Charlotte and Madi, and I usually refer to them as my cousins. I think Charlotte is starting her junior year of college and Madi is starting her freshman year, so she's about your age, Aden."

"Nice. Where do they go to school?"

"Charlotte is at Duke, but I think this semester she's studying abroad in Japan, and Madi is at Johns Hopkins. They'll come celebrate Christmas at my parents' house, so you can meet them too if you want. I know Madi is leaning towards Microbiology and Charlotte is studying electrical engineering."

"Power to them," Lexa appraised.

Clarke snorted. "You should've seen their mom. She was expecting one of them to go into banking like she did."

"Was she pissed?" Aden asked.

"Mm, no, I don't think so. She was just a little shocked. I mean, they were both cheerleaders and cheer captains at one point, and I think because they seemed really girly, a lot of people underestimated them. If they shocked their mom, just imagine everyone else. They were super secretive about applying to college, so I can see where some of the shock comes from."

"Were you surprised?"

"No, because the two of them asked me for a lot of advice about college and stuff. My mom and I have connections at Johns Hopkins, and Madi utilized that. Charlotte would always talk to my dad and borrow his books whenever they stayed over at our house when their parents went on an anniversary cruise or a business trip. Plus, they live in Vienna, so it wasn't that far of a drive when Charlotte got her license."

"They seem really really cool."

"They are," Clarke smiled. "I can introduce you to Madi anytime you want. I think you guys could get along great. She usually commutes from here to Hopkins, and stays at her parents' house most weekends."

"Did Hopkins already start?" Aden frowned. "It's barely halfway through August."

"No, but she had a summer internship in one of the labs, so she thought it would be better to stay on campus. If you ever find yourself bored before school starts, the four of us can hang out. There's this cool fro-yo place in Fairfax."

"I'm up for it. I mean, I don't really know anybody here except for Lexa, Anya, and Lincoln, and now you, so it would be nice to meet someone my age."

"You calling us old?" Clarke joked.

"I'm not falling for that trap," Aden smirked, scraping the last of his dinner into his mouth. He continued to chat with Clarke throughout the rest of dinner and dessert, with Lexa adding to the conversation in bits and pieces, though she mostly opted to stay quiet and observe. It wasn't until Aden left the table to wash the dishes that she and Clarke got some time to talk alone.

"You were quiet," Clarke remarked, playing with Lexa's hand.

"I'm not one for group conversations, usually," Lexa said. "I prefer to observe."

"Your brother is really smart. Cute, too," Clarke cheekily grinned.

"I see what your plan is. Use me to get to my brother," Lexa joked.

"I've been busted. Whatever shall I do?"

Lexa grinned and leaned to place a quick kiss on Clarke's lips. "Thank you."

Clarke tilted her head. "For what?"

"For being his friend and offering to introduce him to other people," Lexa spoke softly, moving her chair closer to Clarke. "He's a smart, funny kid, but I feel like he's a little uncomfortable around a lot of people, and doesn't have very many friends. He had two friends throughout all of high school, and I just worry that he's not going to make any. I work a lot, and even though we get along great, there's a decade and a half in between us. You didn't have to be his friend, but you took on that role. So, thank you."

"You worry about him a lot," Clarke smiled. "He's a great kid. I think he'll do fine. I can introduce him to Madi and maybe they'll develop a friendship. Who knows? Besides, he's smart. People bloom in college. He's away from his mom and yeah, he's living with you, but he's going to learn to do a lot of things on his own. He'll learn how to overcome his awkwardness around crowds, as long as he's willing to try. You can't teach someone who's chained and staring at shadows."

"Gotta give Plato his creds, Clarke," Lexa tsked, emitting a grin from the blonde.

"I'm glad you got that reference," Clarke teased.

"It's not like I can forget it. I had to compare that story to Leaves That Are Green and it was the only C I've ever gotten on an essay in my life."

"Nerd," Clarke chuckled. "Why did you get a C?"

"I kind of half-assed it because I had two tests that day, so I deserved it, but that whipped me into shape and I never got anything below a ninety in that class ever again."

Clarke smiled as she observed Lexa.

"What?" The brunette asked.

"Ten bucks says you were awkward as fuck in high school and bloomed your senior year."

Lexa's eyes widened. "Shit. How'd you know?"

"I bluffed it, but lucky guess," Clarke laughed, earning a light shove on the arm from Lexa.

"I hate you," Lexa muttered, trying to push down her grin.

Aden walked in the room to find his sister trying to scowl at her girlfriend, and let out a secret smile before gathering their attention. "Hey, so, dishes are all washed. I turned on the water heater in case you guys wanted some tea."

"Thanks, Aden," Clarke smiled. "You're going up to sleep?"

"No, I've got a whole list of vlogs I need to catch up on after I finish The Office," Aden said, revealing what he had behind his back. "Plus, Anya gave me these to try."

Lexa raised a brow. "Headphones?"

"Yep. And you know what the best part is?" Aden asked rhetorically as he put them on. "They're noise canceling! Enjoy the rest of your night."

Lexa's jaw fell to the floor, and Clarke felt her face redden from embarrassment as Aden turned around and left the dining room to go upstairs.

"He's moving out next semester," Lexa muttered, which broke the awkward tension a little bit. "I dropped him on his head once when my mom had to work and never told her, so that's my only explanation for his behavior."

"Lexa, calm down," Clarke told her. "Do you not want to have sex?"

"What? Of course not!" Lexa's eyes widened when she realized how her words could be misunderstood. "Let me rephrase that. Of course I want to have sex, preferably with you."

"You've got backup plans in case I say no?"

"Ha ha, very funny," Lexa said, nudging Clarke's foot. "Apparently I can't English today."

That line sent Clarke over the edge, and Lexa spent the next two minutes trying to calm her date down.

"Clarke, that line was not that funny."

"It was coming from you," Clarke laughed, still releasing a few giggles as she tried to sober up. "I'm sorry."

"It's fine."

Clarke pouted, then stood up to plop herself right into Lexa's lap, lifting the brunette's jaw so she could give her girlfriend a peck on the lips. "I want to have sex, too. Preferably with you."

"You're so mean to me," Lexa whispered before connecting her lips to Clarke's.

Clarke smiled into the kiss, bringing her hand up to tug on Lexa's hair, lightly scratching the baby hairs at the bottom.

"Bedroom?" Lexa asked, breaking away from their make-out session to breathe.

"Yes."


	12. Chapter 12

"Clarke," Lexa murmured, pressing light kisses to the blonde's face. "Good morning."

Clarke smiled as she felt Lexa's lips pecking her cheeks, nose, and jaw. "I don't wanna wake up."

"I wouldn't either, if I had the day off," Lexa chuckled, burying her nose in Clarke's neck. "I have to go to work soon."

Clarke opened one eye, indeed witnessing Lexa dressed in a pantsuit, tucked in shirt, and heels. She glanced at Lexa, and grinned when she saw the brunette smiling at her. "Hi."

"Hi, babe," Lexa whispered, dropping a kiss on Clarke's temple. "I made coffee and breakfast."

"Mm. Sounds nice," Clarke mumbled. "You headed out?"

"Yeah. I wish I could stay," Lexa said, tracing her thumb over Clarke's lips. "I left a towel and some spare clothes for you on the armchair. Your clothes from last night are there, too."

Clarke gave her a lazy grin as she closed her eyes. "Thank you."

"Anytime," Lexa whispered, dropping a kiss to Clarke's cheek. "I'll let you sleep some more. Aden will be downstairs if you need a ride back, okay?"

"Trying to get rid of me so soon?" Clarke hummed with her eyes still closed. “I can just get a Lyft or Uber.”

Lexa chuckled. "You can stay here all day for all I care. I'd love to see you when I get home."

There was no way she was going back to sleep, so Clarke opened her eyes, grin still on her face. "You're going to be late, Lex. Morning traffic is a bitch."

"How would you know? You're never there for it," Lexa mused. "But, I really am. I'll see you soon."

Lexa ducked for a successful quick kiss, which threw Clarke off. "Um, morning breath."

Lexa stood up and raised a brow at the blonde. "You made out with me after I gave you head."

Clarke paused to reflect on Lexa's statement. "Touche."

Lexa smiled in victory. "Bathroom's through that door, and there's a spare toothbrush on the sink."

"Okay," Clarke said, biting her lip as she sat up in bed, letting the bedsheet fall to her waist. "Have a good day at work."

Lexa's eyes followed the movement of the bedsheets, leaving her unable to process Clarke's words. "You, too."

Clarke smiled in amusement. "Lex."

"Hm?"

"I'm not going to work today."

"Right." Lexa responded, Sstill wasn'not processing anything.

Clarke took one of the smaller pillows and launched it at her girlfriend, hitting her in the stomach. "Go to work, you perv."

"I'm not a perv!" Lexa said, finally snapping out of her trance. 

"Right," Clarke voiced, clearly unconvinced. "You might want to stop drooling and leave before traffic gives you a headache."

"Okay, okay. I get the message," Lexa said, tossing the pillow back on the bed. "Bye, Clarke," Lexa said rather awkwardly, not sure how to take her leave. So, like anyone in her situation, in the presence of the perfect girlfriend that is, she made a swift exit with no further eye contact. 

Clarke laughed and shook her head before climbing out of bed.  She grabbed her undergarments from the night before, then the towel and clothes Lexa left out for her before heading into the bathroom. Twenty minutes later, Clarke was running her fingers through her towel-dried hair while packing up her dress and heels in an empty shopping bag Lexa must have left out for her. She found her purse on the nightstand and her phone plugged in the wall at full battery. Unsurprisingly, there was an influx of messages from her best friends. 

She grabbed her phone and unlocked it, humoring herself with the messages from Octavia.

**Octavia** :   
???

**Octavia** :   
BITCH, ANSWER ME

**Octavia** :   
HOW TF AM I GOING TO FACE HER NOW???

**Octavia** :   
IT’S GONNA BE AWKWARD AS HELL

**Octavia** :   
DAMMIT CLARRKKKKKKKE

**Octavia** :   
I’M SO PISSED AT YOU RN

Clarke shook her head, knowing that she was going to have to deal with it when she got home. She opened her conversation with Lexa to text her about Octavia’s likeliness of avoiding her boss on the first day of work.

**Clarke** :   
So, just a heads up.

**Clarke** :  
There’s probably a big chance Octavia is going to avoid  
eye contact with you if you have a meeting with her this  
week. She feels awkward as hell.

 **Clarke** :  
Also, do you have slippers I can borrow? The heels from  
last night don’t exactly go with the sweatpants I’m  
wearing :P

**Lexa** :

There’s some slides under my bed. Socks in   
the top right drawer of my dresser if you need  
them.

 **Lexa** :  
I’m going to have to talk to her over the   
phone at some point this week about work…

 **Clarke** :  
She’ll be fine about work-related stuff, but if  
you’re going to try to get lunch with her the next  
few days, i wouldn’t hold my breath. She’s in a  
little bit of shock. I kissed her brother once for  
a dumb dare when I was drunk in college, and  
she wouldn’t talk to me for a week. 

**Lexa** :   
Does she have some problem with us dating?

**Clarke** :  
No, but she’s probably a little mad that I didn’t  
tell her sooner. Octavia and I have a weird  
friendship. Don’t worry about it. I wouldn’t be  
surprised if she has the best friend talk with you  
next week.

**Lexa** :   
Wtf, is this high school?

**Clarke** :   
XD

**Clarke** :  
She has a flair for drama. First few days with her  
are gonna be weird. Keep an open mind is all i’m  
saying.

**Lexa** :   
I’m getting a little freaked out now tbh. 

**Lexa** :  
I have a conference call in fifteen min and  
need to go over some things. Talk to you later?

**Clarke** :   
Yep. Have a good day at work!

**Lexa** :  
Thanks! I left some breakfast for you and Aden  
in the oven to stay warm. Eggs + pancakes.  
Help yourself to anything you need. 

**Clarke** :   
:)

Clarke locked her screen, then grabbed a pair of socks from Lexa’s dresser and put them on before slipping into Lexa’s Adidas slides. After grabbing all of her things, Clarke walked out of Lexa’s room and down the hallway, where the staircase that led downstairs was. Just as she walked into the kitchen, a plate slipped from Aden’s hands and fell to the ground.

“Fuck,” Aden cursed, lifting his foot up to reveal blood oozing from a cut.

“Did the glass cut your foot?” Clarke asked, putting her stuff on the nearest counter top.

“Yeah,” Aden said, eyes widening when he remembered that he broke a plate. “Don’t tell Lexa.”

Clarke rolled her eyes in amusement. “Hop on the counter for me, superman. Do you know where the first aid kit and the broom are?”

“First aid kit is in the cabinet next to your head,” Aden told her, and Clarke immediately pulled it out. “And, I think she keeps the broom and dustpan in that closet right outside the kitchen.”

Clarke went to said closet and retrieved the cleaning supplies, then picked up the first aid kit again on her way to Aden. She handed him the kit, then got to work cleaning up the broken plate. “Pull out the alcohol wipes in there and clean your cut.”

After cleaning up, Clarke walked back over to Aden and assessed the cut on his foot. “Okay, it doesn’t look like any broken pieces got lodged in there, so that’s good. I think one of the bigger pieces must have just cut you. No need for stitches, so that’s another plus.”

She took one of the bigger band aids and applied it to Aden’s the cut. “All set.”

“Thanks,” Aden said, waiting for Clarke to step back before hopping off the counter. He grabbed the first aid kit, broom, and dustpan to put away. 

Clarke walked over to the oven and opened it to reveal two plates, like Lexa mentioned. “Were you trying to cook breakfast, Aden?”

“No, I was going to cut up some fruit and eat that with the food Lexa left,” Aden said as he walked back into the kitchen. “Do you want tea or coffee? We have cold brew.”

“I’ll have the cold brew, please,” Clarke told him as she pulled out the plates from the oven. “Is that Lexa’s drink?”

“Yeah. She bought two bottles last week,” Aden told her, pulling out the bottle and pouring it into a mug.

“And she says she’s not a hipster.”

“Oh, she’s a total fucking hipster. Her stubborn ass just won’t admit it.”

Clarke snorted. “Um, where are the forks?”

“Drawer to your left.”

By the time the two of them sat down with their breakfast, an air of awkwardness fell upon them. 

“So, you stayed over,” Aden said, trying to cut the tension. He grimaced when he realized that he must’ve made the situation more awkward. 

“I must have, unless I’m a ghost or you’re hallucinating,” Clarke joked, which earned a chuckle out of Aden.

“I’m sorry. I just feel really awkward, especially since I just met you last night, and honestly, the last time I had to interact with my sister’s girlfriend was when I was in elementary school, so I’m a little out of touch.” 

Clarke grinned at his statement. “It’s fine. Do you know what you’re going to be up to today?”

“Not really. I was planning on just binge-watching Netflix. Lexa’s at work, and if Anya and Lincoln weren’t out of the country, they’d be working, too,” Aden shrugged. “I don’t know anyone here, and there’s a billion tolls everywhere, so I’m kind of terrified of leaving this house at the moment.”

Clarke pursed her lips and spent the next few moments taking in Aden’s words. Finally, she said, “has Lexa ever taken you to Rebounderz?”

 

 

 

Lexa opened her phone during her lunch break, deciding to take her mind off work for two minutes and recharge as she ate her lunch. She saw a Snapchat notification from Aden, which she found odd because her brother knew she rarely used her social media. Nonetheless, she opened it, and raised her eyebrow as she watched her eighteen-year-old brother jump off a wall trampoline, and nearly fell out of her chair when he flipped the camera to show Clarke doing a few tumbling tricks across four trampolines. 

Lexa immediately dialed Aden's number. 

" _ Hey, Lexa, _ " an out-of-breath Aden greeted her from the other end. " _ Did you get my Snapchat? _ "

"Yeah. Where the hell are you?"

" _ Rebounderz. How come you've never taken me here? _ " 

"What the fuck is Rebounderz?"

" _ It's this cool trampoline place. Clarke and I are here and it's an awesome workout, _ " Aden said. " _ Here, I'll give her the phone. Clarke! It's Lexa. _ "

It took a few seconds before Lexa heard her girlfriend's voice. 

" _ Hey, Lex, _ " Clarke greeted, obviously trying to catch her breath. 

"Hi," Lexa said.

" _ Give me a sec. I need to get out of the trampoline area, _ " Clarke said. There was some shuffling on the other end, and Lexa could clearly make out the music in the background, a top Black Eyed Peas hit. " _ Okay, shoot _ ."

"I didn't know you could tumble."

Clarke chuckled. " _ Those are party tricks these days. I used to be a cheerleader in high school. _ "

"Of course you were," Lexa teased. 

" _ Stereotyping much? _ " Clarke threw right back, chuckling as she did so. " _ I come here when I can. It's a great workout. Running gets a little boring after a while, so I come here to break my routine. You should come with me next time. _ "

"It looks like a lot of fun," Lexa agreed. "How did you get Aden to come with you?"

" _ Well, after an awkward start to breakfast and a broken plate— _ "

"He broke one of my plates?"

" _ Minor details. Don't tell him I told you, _ " Clarke said. " _ Anyway, it wasn't very hard. I was going to come here today anyway, and he was going to be binge-watching shows all day, so I figured it would be nice to get him out and about, maybe familiarize himself with the roads a little bit. _ "

A slow smile made its way onto Lexa's face. "You're honestly amazing, you know that?"

" _ I try _ ."

"How humble of you," Lexa joked. 

" _ Always _ ."

"Can I swing by your place for a few minutes after work?" Lexa asked.

" _ If you can manage to get there before my interrogation at 5:30, then you're good. _ "

Lexa laughed. "Are you looking forward to that?"

" _ Not at all, but I love her, so I'll deal, _ " Clarke said. " _ I hate to cut this short, but I have to go and make sure your brother doesn't break his neck trying to do one of the tricks I taught him. _ "

"Okay. Thank you."

" _ See you later, Lex _ ."

The call ended, and Lexa placed her phone on the desk, still smiling from that conversation. She was still replaying it in her head when she got the video call request from Anya, and still had that dumb smile on her face when the call connected. 

"You look drunk," Anya told her in lieu of a greeting. 

"I'm going to fucking marry Clarke Griffin," Lexa responded. 

Anya's brows shot up. "Whoa. Did not see that one coming."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So, I've had this done for a few days, but didn't get a chance to post it till now. Big thanks to @conehead, my new beta for this fic. Check out their works!
> 
> Also, this may sound totally random, but are there any web/software developers amongst my readers? I have a friend who wants a quote on developing a web app. Shoot me an email at pladicus@gmail.com if you are so I can put you in touch with her. 
> 
> Comment your thoughts, please :)


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